A Letter at last
by SeverusSnapeIscool
Summary: When a 15 year old girl finally gets her letter after unfortunate circumstances led to her late arrival at Hogwarts, her state of mind and past experiences make it hard for her to feel safe at Hogwarts. But Dumbledore has a plan, and it is up to Snape to make sure the plan works! This is based on a character called Charlotte, who I made up, and does not include Harry/Ron/Hermione.
1. Chapter 1

Hi guys! So this is the first ever fan fic I've written so go easy on me ;)

I would really appreciate any reviews/criticism as that would help me to improve and know how it's going :)

The summery really sucked but basically this is about a character I made up who goes to Hogwarts and Snape is always there to look out for her. I have always found it so sad that Harry went through Hogwarts without knowing how nice Snape really was, so this shows Snape with the other half of his personality :D

Chapter 1 – A Letter at Last

Sitting on her small, hard mattress and staring in excitement and awe at the piece of paper she had in her hand, was a girl dressed in jeans that were too tight, and a jumper that was too large. Charlotte Bradley was very small for her age, with pale skin and grey eyes, and mousy blonde hair that fell in all the wrong places; and at 15, many people remarked at how young she behaved, for she was timid in her demeanour, and often reluctant to engage in conversation. Nevertheless, if one were to have a conversation with Charlotte, they would understand that her intelligence lay beyond her ability to socialise. Her wit was sharp, and her thirst for knowledge was plentiful, so much so that her old Baccalaureate teachers hadn't yet found anything that the girl actually needed to be taught; she had either read it all, or heard it all before.

Surrounding Charlotte was a small room completely bare of any furniture or personal objects, but for a pile of old school books and a laundry basket filled with a black skirt, a navy blue jumper, a shirt, and an array of black tights. Sewn into the jumper were the words "Collège de parc à daims" in red thread, surrounding a picture of a deer upon a golden crest. Across the room was the bed, a large, but single, rectangle in the middle of the room. On top of it was a cream duvet, along with one dark blue pillow, and next to it, one red pillow. Both had deep, sinking circles where her head had been, and both flicked out at the corners where her head hadn't been. The duvet was flung over at one corner and would remain so for the rest of the day, or until it became more convenient to flatten it out than to leave it as it was. There was no head rest on the bed, but the end of the frame had been pushed up against a large wall which sufficed perfectly. Apart from this, the room was filled with nothing more than a discoloured carpet, which didn't quite reach all four corners of the room and instead left the floorboards underneath showing. A trunk bigger than Charlotte herself was leaning against the wall outside her four-walled room, awaiting the journey it was about to embark upon.

Outside, Charlotte could hear the other children; whining, playing, fighting, being generally childish and boisterous. Whatever it was, she knew that she didn't care. She read the words aloud – but quietly – over and over, assuring herself that it was really real:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledor_

_ (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_ Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards) _

_Dear Miss Bradley,_

_ We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_ Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

On this particular day, perhaps a day like most others for almost all of the children living at St Clare's Foster Home, Charlotte had found her self waking up to the most important day of her life. For the night before, she had received her letter, and today was the day that she was finally going to Hogwarts.

Earlier that month, the teachers of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had congregated in the headmaster's office, awaiting his instructions as to how the upcoming year was going to start, and what their roles would be. It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A number of curious silver instruments stood on spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of whom were snoozing gently in their frames. There was also an enormous, claw-footed desk, and, sitting on a shelf behind it, a shabby, tainted wizard's hat – the Sorting Hat.

The headmaster was Professor Dumbledore. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. Here he stood behind his desk, not wanting to be rude and sit while his guests were made to stand before him, and began speaking to his colleagues.

"It is my pleasure to welcome you all back!" Dumbledore began in a voice brimming with admiration for his staff members. "I trust you have all had a pleasant break, filled with merriment and plenty of sherbet lemons!" He continued to beam, and some of the teachers beamed back – Madam Pomfrey notably so, for her plump and smiling face filled the room almost as much as Dumbledore's twinkling eyes. Some, however, were less inclined to reciprocate the headmaster's joviality, and instead listened intently with pursed lips.

"Now, as you all know, we are to be expecting 48 new students this year, and as always, I would like Hagrid to organise the boats if he may," Dumbledore instructed slowly, meeting Hagrid's eyes over the top of is half-moon spectacles. Hagrid nodded in agreement, his matted hair falling slightly over his face as his head shook up and down. "Wonderful! And Minerva, the usual routine?" Professor _McGonagall nodded her head once and smiled a thin, but warm smile to show that she was more than happy to oblige._

_ Dumbledore continued with his fairly ordinary speech, outlining as usual that the Forbidden Forest was out-of-bounds to all students; that the restricted section of the Library was to remain restricted at all times but for exceptional circumstances; and that no students should be out of bed after hours. In fact, when the teachers and care-takers, and house elves all turned on their heals to leave, everybody thought that Dumbledore had finished._

_ However, they were soon proven wrong as Dumbledore called out amongst the bustle of feet: "Minerva, Severus, Filius, a word if I may?"_

_ The three teachers fought against the crowd and hurriedly made their way back to Dumbledore's desk, where they waiting to be spoken to. _

_ "You may have noticed that I said 48 students?" The three agreed that they had indeed noticed, "And yet as you all know, we are only expecting 47 first years," again, the teachers agreed that this was definitely true. "You see, we will be joined this year by a fifth year student, Charlotte Bradley. You may remember her?"_

_ And remember her, they all did. For five years ago to the day, they had attempted to reach Charlotte and give her her letter. Persistently, they had sent owl after owl, and had even sent Hagrid to give it to her in person when it seemed that none of the others had reached her. They eventually found out that Charlotte's Aunty and Uncle, Darlene and Bill Parker, had been refusing the child access to any of the letters, and had indeed gone through great means of avoiding being found out. Eventually, just days before Hagrid's arrival to the consequently empty house, they had moved very quickly to France, where Charlotte was forced to stay with her muggle relatives completely unaware of her magical ability. _

_ Since that day, she had been the responsibility of __Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, who had been unable to contact her – in truth they had not tried very hard, for of course they resented that she was truly a Hogwarts student. Thus she was enrolled at __Collège de parc à daims, a local French Secondary school. _

_ "We have been able __to con__tact h__e__r?" M__in__erva asked, e__xc__i__ted that finally the girl m__ight fin__al__ly get the educatio__n she needed and deserv__e__d. _

"We have indeed Minerva. She returned to England not 2 days ago, after she was found by the muggle social services to have been...unsafe living with her current relatives." Dumbledore wiped the smile from his face as he said this, trying not to imagine what sort of a life the child must have had growing up with those brutes.

"That's perfectly awful!" Piped up Professor Flitwick, who had until then been watching quietly a few steps behind the other two more senior teachers.

"Calm yourself Filius, I can assure you that the child is safe. She resides at what I believe the muggles call a Fosting Home. Of course, this is only temporary, for she will be joining us for the year," Dumbledore assured. He tapped his fingers slowly on his desk, and began humming a jolly tune to the beat of the tapping.

"Why is it exactly that you needed us, Professor?" Snape asked tiredly, but with an element of concern in his voice. He could of course guess that Professor McGonagall was needed because she was the Deputy Head, and therefore had to be informed of these matters. Where he came in all of this, however, was puzzling.

"Ah, Severus. Let me explain. The girl is of great intelligence is she not? It was therefore safe for me to assume that she would be sorted into Ravenclaw." Here Dumbledore gestured towards Professor Flitwick, resolving the matter of why he had been involved. "As for you, my dear man, I'd have thought it were obvious." Severus said to himself curtly that it was not at all obvious, and if the man wouldn't stop beating about the bush then he was likely to walk out. "I would like you to pick up Charlotte over the summer and take her to Diagon Alley, ensuring that she is on the Hogwarts Express with all her books, and so on and so forth."

Dumbledore's eyes were once again twinkling, in a manner of which made Professor McGonagall wonder if he was up to something. He did seem very excited, as though a wonderful plan was formulting.

Severus Snape, who had been dressed the entire time in a dark black robe which he now used to flare out at the sides to show that he was not happy, thought about protesting.

"Albus, do you not think that it might be more appropriate for Hagrid to-"

"My dear man," Albus said once again, raising a polite hand as though to justify his interjection, "Do you not think that Hagrid would somewhat draw attention to himself? Not to mention frighten the poor girl. And besides, you said yourself that you are not doing anything for the next couple of weeks besides catching up on some reading. I'm sure you will enjoy having something to do."

Professor McGonagall was about to point out that Severus Snape would hardly be much less frightening than Hagrid, before thinking better of it. Besides, she knew how kind Severus could be outside of his rather cruel lessons. As for Snape, he himself was beginning to think that it may not be such a bad idea. Of course, he was reluctant to seem enthusiastic about this rather out-of-the-blue arrangement, but he had to admit that it was better than spending the rest of his summer doing nothing.

And thus, a week later, Severus Snape stood outside the entrance to St Clare's Foster Home, and knocked on the blue, wooden door.


	2. Chapter 2

So this is the second chapter. I know it's a little long but I'm still trying to set up the background to the whole story. Sorry if it's a bit boring but it's kind of necessary for the story as a whole.

Please review/feedback if you've read it/some/any of it!

Chapter 2 – The Trip to Diagon Alley

Professor Snape, who had apparated straight from Hogwarts, and was therefore still wearing his jet black robes, had greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. He stood back as the door was opened by a rather plump, friendly looking women who was dressed in long flowing clothes of all different shapes and colours.

"Ah...you must be here for Charlotte?" She asked kindly, although she didn't wait for an answer, because she had already decided that this was indeed the man who had been sent from Hogwarts. She ushered him in, taking a long hard look at the man's rather eccentric and gothic attire, and settled herself down on a brightly coloured sofa, gesturing for Snape to follow suit.

Snape sat accordingly, sinking lower than he had expected into the deep cushioned sofa, before saying, "Good morning Madam. My name is Severus Snape,"

"It's a delight to meet you, mister Snape. That's rather an unusual name...is it foreign?" Asked the muggle woman, who was beaming in a confused but well meaning manner at the man who sat before her.

"I don't believe so," was Snape's rather short answer. He looked around, and took in the various pieces of furniture and posters on the walls; all seemed very generic, and all contributed to the theme of bright and jolly colours. He decided that he didn't want to spend any more time here than was absolutely necessary.

"I trust you have the relevant documents?" He asked promptly, figuring that the sooner he got to signing things, the quicker he could leave and return to the wizarding world.

"Ah...mister Snape. How efficient of you. Let me just get some refreshments, and then I'll bring the paperwork through..." And with that, she heaved herself up once more, and hurried into the corridor, turning through to what looked like the kitchen. Professor Snape sat, and waited, staring tiredly at the clock and wondering why muggles insisted on making the hands of analogue clocks so thin and dull.

He reached into his robes, and produced some documents of his own; a few pieces of paper just finalizing the agreements that Charlotte was to be spending the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts, and not at St Clare's. And of course the form that had to be signed by the child's guardian permitting her to visit Hogsmead as and when the school allowed.

When the woman returned – remembering at last that she hadn't yet introduced herself, and thus giving Snape her name (Julia) over her shoulder as she placed down the tray of tea and biscuits – the professor took the papers from her hand and read through carefully.

In short, they stated that the child was to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on the bases that all funds were paid for by the school, and that she would remain in constant contact with St Clare's to ensure that the child was safe and happy. It went on to read that the child' relatives could, under no circumstances, be allowed to visit, and that the school had a duty to provide the care and support that the child needed, etc, etc. The documents went on for a long time, and Snape couldn't help but narrow his eyes and sneer as the forms seemed to cover every possible eventuality of the girl coming to harm. Did they not realise that Hogwarts was probably the safest place in the country? Protected by the best wizard Hogwarts has ever produced?

"Of course, I went over most of that with your headmaster a fortnight ago when he brought over the letter..." said Julia in an off-hand way, reaching for another biscuit. Snape's ears pricked up at this slightly – Dumbledore had come here in person to deliver the letter?

"Naturally, though, we couldn't give Charlotte the letter straight away. There were a whole bunch of calls to make, and legalities to be taken care of. But enough of that...these are just to make everything official. She was ever so excited when we could finally show her the letter yesterday, mind you," Julia continued, biscuit slushing in the corners of her mouth, completely oblivious to the burning glare coming from the Potions professor.

The girl had only found out _yesterday? _It was a wonder than Snape was able to contain himself, but he managed to convey his anger with his eyes, and avoided spitting out the words that he wanted to say. What was she to know? As far as St Clare's were concerned, Charlotte was just going to another boarding school. Apparently this sort of thing happened all the time to children who lived in foster homes. Some relative, somewhere, would pay for the child to go across the country and live in their school, enjoying the comfort of being surrounded by friends and teachers. It seemed like a good idea, of course. But Snape couldn't help but think that Julie had not quite grasped the full extent of the situation. Charlotte was not just going to any boarding school, she had just found out that she was a witch. That surely takes some getting used to?

Another ten minutes later saw Snape and Julie signing on the dotted lines. All that remained was to get the girl to sign it herself, and then they could get going.

It had been arranged by Dumbledore that Professor Snape was to take the child to Diagon Alley, and stay the night at the Leaky Cauldron until it was ready to board the Hogwarts Express. It being already 9:00am on the 30th of August, it was important that they left St Clare's soon, as Snape certainly didn't want to break his promise to the headmaster that he would see the girl onto the train with everything sorted.

After an awkward few seconds of silence that came shortly after the man's quill left the paper, with his signature swooping across the line in perfect black ink, Julia decided that now would be a good time to fetch Charlotte, who had been told to pack all of her possessions, and wait to be called. Snape took this cue, and asked where the bathroom was, so that he may have time to quickly change into a slightly more inconspicuous attire, so that he could travel via muggle transport without drawing attention to himself.

Minutes later, a timid but certainly excited Charlotte, and a Potions Master dressed in pale baggy jeans and a polo-neck jumper that looked as though it belonged in the early 90s, were stood facing each other and making introductions.

"You must be Miss Bradley," Snape said first, sneering slightly as he saw how small and young the child looked, even though she was 15.

"Yes. Are you Professor Snape?" Charlotte replied softly, not wanting to make a bad first impression. She saw the man's curled lips and glaring eyes, and thought that perhaps he was not one to take any nonsense. But nevertheless the man didn't frighten her; he in fact had an air about him that she had not come across before; somehow reassuring and comforting despite his rather stern exterior. She of course knew who the man was, for Julia had explained everything to her yesterday. All about Professor Dumbledore, and how he was the headmaster of Hogwarts school, and that he would be sending one of the teachers (Professor Snape) to take her shopping for all of the school equipment. Julia also explained that she needn't worry about sending an owl by 31 July, for this had all been taken care of.

"I am, yes. And you will address me as sir, or professor, at the end of every sentence." Snape sneered again as he saw the disappointment in the girl's face as she realised that she had already done something wrong. But this feeling of superiority was quickly replaced with guilt, for he remembered what Albus had said about the child being very sensitive. He would have to be careful not to hurt her too much, especially as this was her first introduction to the wizarding world.

It was not long before Charlotte was getting restless, not wanting to leave it any longer before signing the documents. But just as she reached for a pen, Snape interjected:

"Before you sign, you should be aware that you will be entering your fourth year at Hogwarts, even though you are technically a fifth year student. We have decided, the headmaster and I that is, that this will make it a lot easier for you to take your O. . Not only will it give you one year less to catch up on, but you will be starting Hogwarts without having to go straight in to O.W.L examinations. Is that clear?" Snape explained slowly, as though he wasn't going to explain it again, no matter if it was clear to the girl or not. Luckily, Charlotte replied saying that she had understood.

Signing out of the way, and documents sent off to the relevant boards of authority (both muggle and wizarding), Severus made his goodbyes, and beckoned for the small child to follow him.

Outside, a taxi cab was waiting for the two. Snape waited for the driver to open the door – not wanting him to know that he hadn't the faintest idea how it worked – and swooped in, managing the effect even without his robes. Charlotte followed shortly after, having plonked her large trunk in the boot, and briefly waved goodbye to Julia who stood in the door frame. She wasn't sad to leave St Clare's. After all, she had only spent the summer there, and although it had been nicer than her home living with her aunt and uncle, it hadn't been altogether enjoyable.

The journey was long and the two remained almost completely silent, but for the jingling of muggle money as Snape thought it best to count it out before hand, to save himself the embarrassment of not entirely knowing how much to give the driver. He had instructed the driver to go to the nearest train station, and asked how much it would be. The driver had said £28, and had left Snape in a rather panicked position, for Dumbledore had left him with a bag filled with odd muggle coins here and there, none of which seemed to make any sense.

Eventually, they arrived, and Snape handed over the large pile of silver and gold coins to the rather confused, and indeed annoyed, cab driver. All the same, he thanked Snape with a slightly forced smile, and drove off, leaving the two standing in the middle of a small-ish, and nearly empty train station.

Professor Snape instructed Charlotte to wait exactly where she was next to the large trunk, while he went to get tickets to Kings Cross station. It had of course been decided that muggle transport was the only real option. For one, Charlotte had never experienced any other type of travel, and was already in for a shock once they arrived at the Leaky Cauldron. And two, Snape didn't want to risk drawing attention to himself, for he knew that the Ministry of Magic were being particularly vigilant.

While she was waiting, Charlotte allowed her mind to wonder, and she soon found herself swimming in a racing mixture of questions and doubts. She began to wonder whether there had all been one massive mistake, and that she was not a witch at all. She wanted to know why it had taken so long for her to get her letter. She couldn't understand how everything was happening so fast; how one minute, she was a slave to her aunt and uncle, and the next minute she was being taken back to England, only to find out that she had been missing out all along on the world she truly belonged in. And what an Earth were O. ? She began to feel very angry, but mostly just very sad. Tears started to glisten in her eyes and her cheeks grew red, and even reder as she attempted to rub her tears away with her sleeve.

When Snape returned, he saw the girl, and stood a few meters away before she saw him. He simply stood and watched as she wiped away her tears and stared into the distance with a distinctly pained and confused expression on her face. He felt something which he rarely felt towards anyone – especially a muggle-born and over-sensitive girl – and didn't quite know what to make of it. He decided to ignore it, therefore, and walked over to the child, thereby causing her to snap out of her emotional state of mind and begin once again to pretend that she was completely unphased by what was happening. After all, she was genuinely excited about going to London!

It wasn't long before the train arrived and the two found their seats in a relatively empty carriage. The professor sat next to a table facing the front of the train, and Charlotte sat opposite. After 10 minutes of silence, Charlotte decided that she need to ask at least some of the questions she had, otherwise she would surely explode:

"Excuse me Professor, I was wondering if you could tell me what O. are?" Charlotte said very softly and incredibly fast, thinking that if she could get the easiest one over quickly then the others might not seem so bad,

"Miss Bradley, if you would kindly speak more clearly then perhaps I would have the answer you are looking for," was Snape's reply. He hadn't meant to sound mean, but the child needed to learn that she couldn't just mumble her way through life. She was going to need to learn to enunciate as she spoke,

"I was wondering if you could tell me what O. are, sir?" Charlotte repeated much more slowly, although equally as soft. Severus had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Was that all the child wanted?

"O.W.L stands for Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is the examination all wizards take in their fifth year to prove that they have been educated to a basic wizarding level. It's usually abbreviated to 'owls'" Snape explained, quite enjoying his feeing of superiority as it dawned on him just how little the child knew. Charlotte, on the other hand, was relieved that it had been something so simple. She had guessed, naturally, that they were examinations, but she was worried that it would have something to do with being tested on something other than what she would be taught – after all, if she was going to be taught everything, then why worry?

"And why did it take so long for me to get my letter...professor?" Charlotte hurriedly added, not wanting the Professor to get distracted once more. This time, Snape wasn't so looking forward to giving the child an answer. He of course knew why she hadn't received her letter until this summer, but remembered that the girl didn't. He chose his words carefully,

"Well, Miss Bradley, your aunt and uncle agreed to look after you on the grounds that you would stay with them at all times to...help out around the house. They said that they did not wish to spend any extra money on you, and if you caused any great disruption to their lives, then they couldn't keep you. I believe that they thought that Hogwarts was going to be a great expense to them, not to mention they still...needed you at home. As far as we know, they decided to move to France so that we could not reach you," Snape finally said, feeling suddenly very sorry for the poor girl, who had had to grow up not knowing her true ability as a witch.

Charlotte had guessed as much. She had remembered the day when all the owls came, and how she had been locked in the cupboard until every single owl had been removed from the premisses, including, it now seemed, the letters. And she had remembered the hurried conversations she had heard between her relatives, who were so desperate to keep Charlotte had their slave that they would have rather moved to France than let the child go to Hogwarts. Yet again, tears filled her eyes, but this time she didn't bother trying to hide it. Instead, she simply turned towards the window and continued the conversation, albeit with a shaking and stuttering voice from the tears.

"H-h-how do I-I know that this isn't all just one...one massive lie?" Charlotte choked out, trying not to shout at the professor, who hadn't yet given her any real reason to suspect that he was lying to her, other than the absurdity of the whole situation.

Again, Snape decided that he had to chose his words very carefully. This time he refrained from correcting the child on her communication skills, for he could clearly see that she was in no fit state to correct herself. He looked around, and saw that there were hardly any people around in the seats next to them. He took out his wand, and whispered for Charlotte to look at him. She obliged, feeling suddenly very excited when she saw what Snape was holding in his hand.

"Wingardium Leviosa" Snape whispered gently. He could of course do the spell a thousand times without needed the incantation, but he wanted to show Charlotte exactly what he was doing to avoid confusion. Charlotte watched in awe as the quill that had been laying on the table floated up elegantly to sit at eye level in front of her. She swished her hand above the feather, checking for wires. And when she found none she even grabbed the feather itself, and felt the extreme force with which is struggled to get out of her grasp and float further upwards. Snape, unbeknownst to Charlotte who was far to distracted with the quill, was smiling at the excitement on the child's face. But when the refreshments trolley came round, he quickly stopped, putting his wand back into his pocket. The feather floated down back onto the table, and the waitress was oblivious to anything having been amiss.

"But sir..." Charlotte said finally after the refreshments trolley wheeled off – she of course hadn't asked for anything, even though she was quite thirsty - "that still doesn't prove that I am a witch," she said miserably, or rather, as miserable as she could be considering that she had just witnessed _real _magic. Snape thought about this cautiously, before finally replying,

"No, Miss Bradley. You are right. But I promise that in a few hours I will be able to prove it to you."

Charlotte didn't know what to think, but decided not to pester the man. He was beginning to sound rather tired of asking questions, and she herself was exhausted. Although trying to stay awake, she eventually closed her eyes and slept for the remainder of the journey. As for Snape, he watched the child briefly, feeling how confused and scared she must be, before taking out one of his Potions books and reading quietly.

When they arrived, Charlotte followed as Snape walked very briskly across the few streets it took to get from King's Cross Station to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Here, Miss Bradley. We have arrived."

Charlotte wondered why on Earth they had stopped at an old pub, and whether Snape really thought that they would be able to by everything in there. But before she had time to think too much, Snape addressed her again,

"You see the Leaky Cauldron, Miss Bradley, can only be seen by wizarding folk," Snape explained, thinking still about how he was going to prove it to the girl. Before he had time to even think of a sure plan, Charlotte was taking matters into her own hands.

"Excuse me," she addressed a rather thin and snotty looking business woman who was hurrying down the street at full speed, "Could you please tell me where I would find The Leaky Cauldron?" The business woman looked exasperated for having been stopped in the middle of her apparently important journey, but she decided nonetheless to have a quick look around. She looked up and down the street, even directly at the Leaky Cauldron, before saying:

"Never heard of it, sorry," And with that she moved along, and Charlotte was left stunned. Not only had she spoken to a stranger, which by her standards was the equivalent of getting up on stage and performing an entire musical solo, but she had just seen live proof of her very own magical ability.

She tried this on a few more subjects, all of whom had the same response. By the end of her experiment, Charlotte had no doubt in her mind that she (and Professor Snape of course) were really the only people who could see the Leaky Cauldron. Snape decided that if they were going to get anywhere, then he was going to have to sort this out once and for all.

He took the trunk himself, having seen how pathetic the girl looked as she struggled to keep up with him whilst carrying something her own size, and walked towards the L.C's door, knowing that the girl would follow. He then walked straight through the Inn, completely ignoring the calls of "Oh hello Professor," and "It's so good to see you, Severus," and settled to stand in front of a seemingly pointless brick wall. Charlotte admittedly was slightly disappointed when she realised where Snape had taken her, although she didn't say anything. She watched as Snape took out his wand once more, and tapped at various different bricks on the wall. All of a sudden, the bricks parted in a most spectacular arrangement, to form an archway, revealing a long cobbled street filled with people all dressed in robes and wizarding hats.

Charlotte had never seen anything like it. It was all she could do to stand in complete shock and stare.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi guys...

This is the third chapter. I know it's taking a while to get going but I had to sort of write all that pre-amble about how the two characters meet and actually get to Diagon Alley. But from pretty much here on it will be set in the Wizarding world. If you hadn't already noticed, this is kind of like a Severitus fan fic, except with my OC instead of Harry because there seemed to be a lot of those already.

It would be really great to get some reviews/feedback to let me know how I'm doing :)

Chapter 3 – Shopping with Snape

Professor Snape left Charlotte looking at the street before her, and went back in to the pub to talk to Tom about staying the night. He reserved to rooms, and had the child's trunk brought up to her room while he himself went into his own room to change back into his robes.

Charlotte, realising that the man had left, decided to go back inside, not knowing what else to do. She looked around timidly, feeling very out of place amongst the customers, all of whom wore the same long robes as the people she had seen in the cobbled street. The pub itself looked very dark and very old, although Charlotte saw that it must be clean, for there was a broom in the corner that was sweeping away various pieces of dirt. At first she could not quite work out what she was seeing, until she realised that the broom was not so much being used, as sweeping of its own volition. She started, and moved back slightly until she bumped into a large and probably intoxicated gentleman wearing long brown robes. He had matted grey hair and a kind smile, although he did seem rather perturbed from having been bombarded with a small and suspiciously muggle-looking young girl.

"Sorry, sir," Charlotte whispered almost inaudibly, wishing that the potions professor was there to tell her what to do. The man didn't seem cross, although he slunked off without saying anything to the girl. Feeling incredibly lost, despite her growing curiosity as she took in the self-mixing spoons, and the funny looking clocks, and the floating bottles; Charlotte found a quiet corner and stood in it, making herself look perhaps even smaller than she already was.

It wasn't long before Snape returned, looking surprised at how reserved the girl was being. He knew that if it had been any of the other students he taught they would have surely wanted to go and investigate more thoroughly. Nonetheless, the man was sure that the girl would want to investigate Diagon Alley straight away, not to mention that they would have to hurry up if they wanted to finish shopping before it got dark.

"The usual, Severus?" Tom called out from across the bar when he saw the potions master return from upstairs.

"No Tom, Hogwarts business I'm afraid," was Snape's reply, and he said this while glaring straight at Charlotte who felt suddenly as though she was intruding. She was shocked at the professor's change of robes and was fully aware that she was now the only one in 'normal' clothes. Not wanting to get in the way any further, the girl stayed quiet and looked at her feet.

"Miss Bradley, I have taken your possessions to your room. If that is all then we shall be going...Kindly look at me when I am talking to you," Snape interjected during his own dialogue. He was sorry to be so forceful about it, but the girl had been staring relentlessly at the floor the entire time she had been standing there, and he needed to know if she had understood him or not.

"Sorry, Professor," murmured Charlotte, lifting her head up but keeping her shoulders hunched up past her ears to continue the image of a very timid and small teenager. The professor rolled his eyes and sneered, but for once did not glare at the child. He was not angry; just a little exasperated at how stubborn the girl was being.

"We shall be leaving now, Miss Bradley," Snape decided to cut to the chase and simply walk out, expecting the child to follow. But when he turned round just before walking through the archway that was still present from about ten minutes ago (for no one had walked through yet), he saw that the girl was a few steps behind him, gazing longingly at the drinks behind the bar. Of course, Charlotte hadn't had anything to eat or drink since they left St Clare's, which was about 4 hours ago. And what the Professor didn't know was that even then the girl had only had a few sips of juice and a few bites of bread, for a mixture of excitement and nerves had prevented her from having a full meal that morning.

_Why didn't the girl just ask for a drink? _Snape was confused. He decided that the girl would be no use if she could barely concentrate on anything else except food and drink, and so walked back towards her slowly, not wanting to make her think that she had done something wrong.

"Child, would you like some lunch before we start?" He asked, knowing the answer already. So that by the time Charlotte had nodded and smiled slightly, the man was already at the bar ordering pumpkin soup for them both, and 2 mugs of butterbeer.

They sat down, and were quickly brought there food. Or rather, there food quickly turned up before them, and Charlotte watched in amazement as her spoon gave the soup a quick stir before she began to eat. The soup tasted wonderful, but not quite as wonderful as the butterbeer. It was sweet and creamy and completely delicious, and even on a warm summers day the hot, frothing drink managed to be refreshing.

"Ah...that wouldn't be a new muggle-born would it Severus?" Asked a fairly old woman from over her shoulder as she spotted Severus eating with the child.

"Yes, Dumbledore's orders," Snape replied by way of an explanation. It seemed to suffice, for the woman – apparently an old acquaintance of Snape's – turned back to her own table, smiling and nodded to show that she understood.

"Professor," Charlotte began to ask, waiting for her Professor to reply before continuing so she knew that it was okay to speak.

"Yes, child?"

"What's a muggle-born?"

Snape felt suddenly foolish. He had almost forgotten that Charlotte still knew nothing about the wizarding world. Once again he realised just how much she needed to learn. He promised himself that he would try his best to inform her of all the basics at the very least, before replying:

"'Muggle' is the term us wizarding fold give to non-magic folk, such as your relatives. If you are muggle born then it means that you are a witch or wizard, but your parents were muggles," Snape didn't like using the word 'muggle-born' too much, especially as it reminded him of the term 'mud-blood', something his fellow Slytherins seemed to use rather too often. He himself despised the word, having known what it is like for a child to grow up not knowing of his/her magical talent.

After their lunch, which was hurried along somewhat by the Professor who was particularly aware of the time, the two walked out into Diagon Alley and began their shopping trip. Charlotte didn't know where to look first. There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments that she had never seen before; windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon. It seemed to never end, and Charlotte was filled with wondrous excitement.

"We shall be getting you some school robes first, Miss Bradley," said Snape half way along the cobbled street, thinking that it would probably be best to get the boring stuff done first, so that the child wouldn't be too distracted from having already purchased an owl and a wand. Plus he had planned it so that they weren't going to have to wheel around a heavy cauldron and a restless bird while they waited to get the girl's robes fitted.

Charlotte realised that she had forgotten to ask about the school uniform, and was very excited to see what it looked like. Nevertheless, she was a little intimidated when she found out that she was going to have to be "fitted". She had always been rather self-conscious about her height, or lack thereof. Snape noticed how quickly the expression on the girl's face changed as he spoke. One moment it was of awe and wonder as she was looking round the various shops, the next it was of utter excitement at the mere thought of getting school robes; and it then changed rather rapidly to a look of sheepish embarrassment. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but thought that perhaps the girl was reluctant about having to shop for clothes in front of her potions professor. He decided that he would wait outside to spare her the embarrassment – after all the girl had already proven to be impeccably well behaved.

They stopped outside Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, and Charlotte waited for the Professor to walk in so that she could follow. He didn't walk in, however, and instead handed Charlotte a pouch filled with golden, silver and bronze coins that she had never seen before.

"It's fairly simple. The gold ones are Galleons. Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle. There you go. Just tell Madam Malkin that you will be starting your first year at Hogwarts and will be needing some robes," And with that, Charlotte was left feeling incredibly alone as she stepped into the now rather foreboding shop.

Charlotte did as she had been told: She entered the shop, which looked a lot cleaner and more friendly on the inside than it did on the outside, and located the woman who she presumed must be Madam Malkin. She told the woman that she was going to be a fourth year student, but that it was to be her first year at Hogwarts. The woman, dressed in large flowing robes and an array of measuring tapes around her neck, took one moment to process the information, before scuttling off to the back of the shop and into a small cupboard. Madam Malkin was never one to pry, and located very quickly the first year's non-house specific robes without questioning as to why the girl hadn't gone to Hogwarts when she was 11 like everybody else.

The girl was ushered into a booth-like compartment, where she stood on a wooden stall and allowed the tape measures to fly around her taking measurements. She couldn't help but smile and giggle as she watched the little things swooping up and down and left and right, until finally they all collapsed into a bundle beside her, and Madam Malkin picked them all up again and threw them around her shoulders. She then unleashed the scissors and sewing needles. Charlotte was a little less on ease when she saw the sharp metal tools cutting away precariously at her feet, and positively squealed as one made its way rather abruptly to begin cutting at the sleeves. Eventually, they were finished, and Charlotte – who despite her apprehension was completely un-touched by any of the magical sewing kit – stood in her perfectly fitted school robes.

The robes were black, with long sleeves and a long flowing cloak that went past her knees. On one side was the crest of Hogwarts – she recognised it from her letter – sewn on in gold, red, blue and green string. Before she had much time to take in what she was wearing, Madam Malkin whipped it off her and folded it up into a brown case, along with a plain tie, a white shirt, a black skirt, a pair of tights, and some black leather shoes that pointed up slightly at the toes and fastened with a large silver buckle.

Charlotte nervously counted out the galleons and sickles (no knuts were required for the transaction, as Madam Malkin had helpfully rounded the price up for the girl who was evidently struggling with the new currency). She then thanked the kind shop owner, and left, arms laden with her newly purchased uniform.

When she reached the thresh-hold that opened back into the cobbled street, it soon became apparent to Charlotte that Professor Snape wasn't there. She instantly began to feel very frightened, and started darting her eyes around to try to see where he had gone, but to no avail, for the professor was nowhere to be seen. She realised suddenly just how long and busy the street was, and how lost she was without the potions master, who seemed to know everything, whereas she seemed to know nothing. She began to tremble and shake, and her eyes glistened with tears. Her breath grew rapid, as though something was grabbing on to her lungs and stopping her from taking in a full breath of air. She gasped and choked as she shook, tears now rolling quite freely down her face, and as she received some rather concerned looks from passers by she wished more than anything that she had just told the professor to stay with her.

Snape, who had simply gone to fetch a trolley for the child so that they wouldn't have to carry everything by hand, saw the child in the distance and began to speed up his pace as he fought against the crowd. As soon as he reached Charlotte he took the case of shopping from her hands and placed it in the trolley, allowing her to have both hands free so that she could wipe her tears dry. Severus produced a handkerchief from out of nowhere, and handed it to the girl, who quickly used it to wipe her cheeks, which burned bright red from shame and embarrassment.

"Foolish child," Snape said softly, not meaning it in a bad way. Charlotte felt rather guilty for acting so childish, but she knew too well what it was like to be abandoned, and she wasn't going to let it happen again. Snape looked at the girl as she appeared to be regaining control over her emotions. He wasn't exactly happy that Dumbledore seemed to have left him to deal with a girl who couldn't be left for more than a few minutes without having a full-blown panic attack, but strangely he wasn't angry. In fact, he felt somewhat guilty himself for having left the child without telling her, even though he had done nothing wrong.

Charlotte recovered quickly as the shopping trip moved on. They went in to Amanuensis Quills, which was only next door to Madam Malkin's, and bought a few simple quills and a couple of ink wells – Snape knew that these weren't really necessary as the school would provide this sort of thing, but he knew that the girl was excited at the thought of using quill and ink to write with, and he wanted her to experience everything she had missed when she was 11. They then went to Flourish and Blotts and purchased all the necessary fourth year school books, along with some catch-up reading of all the essentials: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, Hogwarts: A History, The Standard Book of Spells, amongst others. Charlotte looked around joyously: the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. It was all so new and beautiful that Snape had to almost push Charlotte out of the shop and back out into the street, where they made their way to Slug & Jiggers Apothecary.

All the while, Snape had been explaining to Charlotte all about the Ministry of Magic, outlining all the relevant laws that the child would need to know, such as how it was forbidden for anyone who wasn't of age to do magic outside of school. Charlotte listened intently and never interrupted, preferring to take in all the information. She enjoyed learning knew things, and was relishing being in the company of someone who actually agreed to talk to her.

It wasn't long before Charlotte had all her books, robes, quills, potions ingredients, and a pewter cauldron which Snape had gone to purchase from Potage's Cauldron Shop while she was looking around Slug & Jiggers Apothecary – so absorbed in all the various sights and smells coming from the different shelves that she didn't notice him go, and was pleasantly shocked when she turned round to see that the cauldron was already placed in the trolley.

All that remained was an animal – Snape had already decided that this would be an owl, for St Clare's expected regular letters – and a wand.


	4. Chapter 4

Hi...next chapter! As you can see I am trying to update regularly, because this story is getting ridiculously long-winded already and I know I haven't even got to Hogwarts yet but bear with me here!

By the way thank you to Carolilia who reviewed what I've done so far – I really appreciate it :)

And if anyone has any requests on things I could add to this story/future chapters then I'd be happy to see if I could write it in. I only have a vague plan so little extras could be put in easily :D

Anyway...I'll stop rambling...enjoy...

Chapter 4 – Of Owls and Wands

After buying a small bottle of pumpkin juice from a nearby stall, for Snape noticed that once again the girl began to look longingly at the different drinks despite her silence, the two headed to Eeylops owl Emporium to purchase an owl.

From little hooks attached to the outside of the shop hung owls of all varieties and species, sitting in metal cages and watching passers-by. Some squawked and bit at the metal bars; some ruffled their feathers and rattled in their cages; others hid modestly under their wings and slept. All were perfectly marvellous in Charlotte's opinion, who wanted nothing more than to look inside.

Inside the shop itself was rather disappointing, for unlike the beautiful specimens that were hung up outside, the shop was filled with scrawny owls that screeched as anyone walked passed. The corners of the shop were very dark, and the whole room smelt suspiciously of owl droppings. Despite this, Charlotte was excited. She allowed a rather unenthusiastic shop-keeper to show her round the different breeds of owl, thinking how each one would be just as fun to have as a pet, while her professor went to find all the boring necessities like owl-nuts and of course a cage.

When the Professor returned he saw Charlotte standing in the corner on her own, the shop-keeping having apparently seen a customer who was higher up in his list of priorities. He was quick to see whether or not the girl was crying, but noted that she wasn't. Relieved, he approached her, and asked her why she was standing in the corner.

"I saw this owl..." Charlotte said very softly, almost in a whisper. The owl she was referring to was itself hidden in the corner, fluffing its wings over its face as though it was just as shy as Charlotte was. It had beautiful large eyes that stared out from above it's misshapen feathers, which seemed to puff out in all the wrong places. It was rather small compared to the other owls, and most certainly didn't have the same shine or magnificence that some of the other birds did. Nevertheless, Charlotte had fallen in love with it.

Severus looked at the owl in disbelief, and then looked back at the girl, who was still admiring the bird shyly. He then looked at the label beside the cage, which read "Tawny Owl, Eurasia, Male, Name: Sidcup". The owl began to coo slightly and nibble at its feathers, looking straight up at the professor who was still staring incredulously.

"Is this the owl you would like, Miss Bradley?" Snape finally asked, knowing that the girl had her heart set on Sidcup. Anyway, perhaps the bird would be better at delivering letters than it looked.

Charlotte muttered something inaudibly in return, suddenly feeling very embarrassed and ashamed. She remembered what she had been told about asking for things, and knew that she had done something wrong. After all, what had she done to deserve something as wonderful as an owl for a pet? She felt angry with herself, but most of all she just felt bad for ever asking. Her cheeks burned a dangerous shade of red as she turned her face even closer to the corner of the room, hoping that the professor wouldn't see the sadness that washed across her face.

Of course, the professor saw everything, and wondered hat on Earth had suddenly made the girl feel so bad. One moment she was about to buy the owl she had chosen, and the next moment it seemed as though she didn't want it at all. He sighed, not knowing if the girl was being ungrateful, or if something else was going on that he wasn't aware of.

"Miss Bradley, is this the owl you want or not? If not, we shall find another one. But whatever you decide please kindly decide quickly, for it is already getting dark," Snape said slowly and clearly, making sure that the girl understood exactly what she needed to do to avoid getting in to trouble. Snape was trying not to be angry as the girl was obviously not very good at controlling her emotions, but all the same it was getting late and the last thing he needed was her being difficult.

"If it's okay, sir, then I would very much like to get Sidcup," Charlotte replied finally, speaking clearly but quietly, feet routed firmly in the corner. Snape nodded in comprehension, and took the owl up by the top of its cage and handed over the 10 galleons to the shop-keeper, who thanked him, before smirking to himself behind the professor's back as he saw what a pathetic little owl the girl had ended up choosing. All the while Charlotte refused to move from her spot in the corner, where she felt was probably the safest place to be.

"We will be getting a wand now, Miss Bradley," Snape addressed Charlotte from across the room, placing Sidcup in their trolley, "that it unless you would rather stay here?" Charlotte took one look at the shop-keeper, who was glaring at her and resisting the urge to laugh, and ran towards her professor, frightened of what the shop-keeper might do if she decided to stay.

During the walk to Ollivanders Wand Shop, Snape explained to Charlotte that every witch and wizard had their own unique wand, such as the one he had shown her on the train, and that the wand must choose the wizard – never the other way around. Charlotte was very happy to hear that she would get to try out a variety of wands until she found that one that suited her best, but was conscious that she didn't know any spells with which to try the wands out.

When they arrived, Charlotte looked up at the peeling gold letters over the door of the shop which read: _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C._The shop's display consisted of a solitary wand lyingon a faded purple cushion in the dusty window. The shop was tiny; empty except for a single, spindly chair in the corner. Thousands of narrow boxes containing wands were piled right up to the ceiling of the tiny shop, and the whole place had a thin layer of dust about it.Charlotte looked about curiously and tried to locate Ollivander himself. She was just about to ring the bell on the counter-top, when she heard a voice cry out:

"Ah, Severus! Good to see you again!" And old man with a wrinkled face and grey hair, but curiously bright eyes came bounding into the room, arms already laden with long thin boxes. "First year, is it?" This time he addressed the girl, who had been so taken aback by the man's rather abrupt appearance that she had sheltered herself yet again into the corner of the room, making herself look very small and significantly younger than she was. Snape noticed this of course, and spoke for the child, not wishing to cause her any great discomfort:

"No actually Garrick, fourth year. Although this will be Charlotte's first wand." Charlotte nodded to show that what the potions master said was indeed correct.

"Ah...I see...I see," said Ollivander distractedly, already aflutter at the thought of selling yet another first wand – most definitely the highlight of his job as a wand-maker. "Right...well...let me see then, first wand you say?" The wand-maker's Ravenclaw traits were unquestionably beginning to show as he grew ever more curious. He wanted more than anything to ask exactly why the girl hadn't already had a wand. Perhaps she had been sick? Or perhaps the Ministry had deemed her unfit to own such a thing? He certainly didn't want her ruining his lovely old shop. Thinking that it was probably best to clarify things before going ahead with the wand-testing, he asked tactfully, "So, you'll be entering your first year at Hogwarts, I take it?"

"Yes, sir" Charlotte replied, creeping out from her hiding place until her face was clearly visible in the dusty light coming from a lamp that was placed on the edge of the counter-top. "I lived in France for a few years, but now that I am in England I can go to Hogwarts, so I need a wand." From somewhere deep within her, and driven by her anxious longing to start trying out wands, Charlotte plucked up the courage to explain. Naturally, she felt it unnecessary to mention her aunt and uncle, not to mention it would be far too long to explain. But it didn't seem to matter for the wand-maker took her explanation as enough to satisfy his curiosity. With no further questions, he handed her a rather crooked, dark brown wand with a knobbly handle:

"Have a go with this one..."

Charlotte, not knowing what to do, gave the wand a quick swish, and instantly regretted it. Papers from every angle flew across the room and were soon strewn upon every inch of the shop's floor and shelves. Incredibly ashamed, the girl apologized a thousand times and placed the wand slowly on the counter-top once more. She then slunked back to her corner, next to the professor, who himself was smiling privately at what he had just witnessed. He saw that the girl looked very sorry, and felt how crushed she must have felt to have caused such a scene. Although Ollivander had been able to clear up his shop with a quick wave of his hand, Charlotte felt as though she was nothing more than a great inconvenience.

"Come on...try this now," Ollivander called out, choosing his next option carefully.

"I don't want to..." Charlotte whispered, sure that no one was going to persuade her to make her go through that again. Wanting to leave as soon as possible, the small girl looked straight up at her professor with wide, terrified eyes and beckoned towards the door, hoping that he would sense her feeling of urgency and let her leave. Snape, however, wasn't going to give in, although he could see that the situation was going to need a much more sensitive approach than the one in Eeylops owl Emporium.

"Miss Bradley, whatever is the matter?" Snape asked quietly, leaving Ollivander to stare in amazement as the girl completely refused his offer of the new wand.

"I-I don't want to ruin the shop," Charlotte sniffled, trying harder than anything not to cry.

"Foolish child. The wand chooses the wizard, remember? It wasn't your fault...even I would find it hard to get on with a wand that wasn't my own," Snape said reassuringly, hoping that the child would understand. She nodded to show that she understood him, and rubbed her eyes before the tears had even reached them, just to be on the safe side. Still slightly reluctant to move forward, she allowed her professor to ever so slightly push her towards the counter once more, and stood as the wand-maker encouragingly placed the second wand in her hand.

_How stupid of me! _The wand-maker thought angrily to himself, _Ivy Dragon Heartstring, 9 inches – what was I thinking? _Ollivander cursed quietly to himself, before handing the child the new wand. This time he had chosen a jet black wand, that was very smooth, with a cylindrical and polished handle; 10 ½ inches, Cedar and Unicorn hair; he was sure of this one.

Charlotte was desperate to make up for what had happened, even if it wasn't her fault. Quickly focussing her mind on a quill laying on the counter next to the wand's box, she pointed the wand and made a 'swish and flick' motion, mimicking what she had seen Professor Snape do on the train earlier that day.

"Wingardium Leviosa" She said clearly, swishing her wand. A warm, tingling sensation flooded through her entire body and out into the wand, and she watched in utter amazement as the little quill sprung to life, floating further and further upwards until it was at eye level with the wand-maker, who himself was stunned.

How had the girl possibly known what to do? Most students simply didn't break half his shop, and therefore proved that the wand worked for them. Charlotte had positively performed magic – and a pretty good charm at that – for the first time in her life.

Impressed with herself, but still incredibly modest, Charlotte put the wand down, and allowed Ollivander to wrap it back up in the box. Saying nothing, other than muttering the word "curious" to himself quietly, he accepted Snape's money and the two left the shop, Charlotte feeling particularly happy for having redeemed herself somewhat.

After a quick dinner back at the Leaky Cauldron, Snape decided to take the girl up to her room so that she could get a good night's rest. After all, the day had most certainly been eventful, and she was no doubt tired.

He said goodnight, and went into the room next door, leaving Charlotte to change into her rather old and faded pyjamas. Under the bed-covers, Charlotte took out her book of Standard Spells and began working through, enjoying the buzzing sensation she got whenever she did a spell right. By the time she was too tired to continue, she could summon objects perfectly with "accio" and unlock the bathroom door with "alohomora", completely oblivious to the fact that it usually took witches and wizards a good few weeks to learn just one charm off by heart.


	5. Chapter 5

This is the fifth chapter! And I also updated the 4th because of the type-o's – sorry about that!

Thank you to SnappedSnape for the review – glad you like it so far :D

Enjoy...

Chapter 5 – Goodbye Muggle World

_She was running, faster and faster as the walls became thinner. He was chasing her, and approaching ever closer. She knew she hadn't a chance. Jump. She jumped across the rooftops and out into the street. The floor beneath her swayed and the walls closed in. Trapped. He came closer. Closer. The large hammer wielded high above his head. She sheltered her face but she knew it wouldn't do much good. Swing. The hammer swung, and was falling. Falling. It was so close...three...two...one..._

Charlotte woke up with a jolt and breathed heavily, feeling the far too familiar feeling of tiredness and shock. Sweat beads were dripping down her face and causing a few stray hairs from her fringe to stick to her forehead. She didn't scream any more – she was used to it by now. Instead, she just curled up further into the duvet and, still shaking, closed her eyes and hoped that maybe she would fall asleep once more.

Later that morning, Professor Snape knocked on the girl's bedroom door.

"Miss Bradley, are you awake?" He called out, hoping that the girl would reply, for he wouldn't have known what to do if she hadn't.

"Yes sir, I'm nearly ready," was Charlotte's reply. In truth, she had been ready for hours, having finally given up on getting back to sleep and simply taking a shower and changing into some new clothes. But she wanted a few more minutes alone so that she could finish writing her letter to St Clare's, and of course so that she had time to learn another spell before breakfast.

"I shall be waiting for you downstairs," the Professor said, already turning away and walking down the staircase towards the breakfast table.

Charlotte rolled up the piece of parchment that she had been writing on, and tied it with a small piece of ribbon, before attaching in to Sidcup's out-stretched foot. She didn't really know how the process worked, but Sidcup had come with a set of 'instructions' so she managed okay. She gave the tiny little bird a bronze knut from the pouch of money that Snape had given her – left over from their shopping trip – and quickly attached the instruction paper so that Julia would know how to reply, before sending the bird off (making sure that it knew to return to Hogwarts, because the last thing she needed was to have lost her bird just one day after she had bought him).

She had just finished packing all of her newly purchased books and potions ingredients into her already over-filled trunk, when a sudden click from the corner of the room startled her. She turned around fast, to find that a small green creature dressed in rags, with a feather duster in one hand and fingers still in a clicking position, was standing in her bedroom. Without even noticing the girl, the house-elf got to work, stripping the beds and dusting the furniture, and humming merrily as it worked as though there was nothing else in the world it would rather being doing. Charlotte, who was completely stunned, dropped all her things and ran downstairs.

When she arrived at the potion master's table – next to which he had kindly reserved a seat for Charlotte – she was panting and shaking, and notably perturbed by the introducer in her room.

"Miss Bradley, whatever is the matter?" Snape asked in an exasperated tone. Surely she was used to seeing magic by now, even if it was all still a bit new to her.

"Green...creature...in my room!" Charlotte breathed out all at once, gasping for air and trying not to sound too afraid. Snape guessed immediately that the child was referring to a house-elf, but he didn't want to patronise her by dismissing it straight away. Telling Tom to keep their table reserved, he agreed to go up to investigate.

When they were standing outside of Charlotte's room, she reached out a hand and tried to open the door. To her surprise, it was locked. Snape knew of course that the house-elf would have locked it, no doubt assuming that the girl had merely forgotten to lock it herself, and that he was doing the right thing by ensuring the safety of her valuable possessions that were still inside. He was just reaching for his wand when he saw that Charlotte was doing the same, and barely had time to realise what he was seeing before the door suddenly swung open, to reveal the little house-elf hard at work.

Astonished, Snape wasn't entirely sure how to react. _Had the girl really just opened the door with magic? _"This, Miss Bradley, if a house-elf. Its job is to tidy and clean..." explained Snape distractedly, his mind still on the spell that the girl had just used. Charlotte nodded in understanding, and apologized profusely for interrupting the house-elf's work. At first she felt a little sorry seeing the creature, who's one purpose in life seemed to be to serve wizarding folk. But when she saw the beaming smile on its face she had to admit that it did genuinely look happy. If she could accept that there was an entirely new world filled with magic and creatures and charms, then she could certainly accept that house-elves really did like cleaning!

Grabbing her trunk, which was now filled to bursting point, and of course her cauldron and Sidcup's now empty cage, Charlotte struggled back downstairs, not seeing her professor's distinctly puzzled expression.

After breakfast, Snape said goodbye to Tom, and walked out of the Leaky Cauldron, stepping back out into the muggle world. Charlotte was rather disappointed to be leaving Diagon Alley, having found the place so magnificently curious, but was slightly reassured by the familiarity of seeing cars and people in jeans. Snape was once again dressed in muggle clothes, and the two began to blend in with the crowd.

"I'll see you soon then, Severus! Have a good term!" Came calls from within. Snape replied to them all at once by simply saying that he would be returning at some point in the future. Charlotte had noticed before that the professor seemed to be rather popular in Digaon Alley. In fact, come to think of it, almost everyone they had met had recognised the potions master.

"Excuse me, professor," Charlotte said, instantly getting the professor's attention, who had been wondering when the child would want to start asking questions again – she seemed to be full of them. "How is it that most people know you?" She was slightly embarrassed to ask such a silly question, but she knew that if she didn't ask then it would be bugging her all day.

"Well, being a professor at Hogwarts, these things tend not to go unnoticed..." Snape answered, wondering why the girl had found that difficult to understand.

"So...Hogwarts is famous?" Charlotte really had no idea that Hogwarts was a well-known school. It would have been enough that she was allowed to go to a Wizarding school, but apparently Hogwarts was actually famous!

"Miss Bradley, Hogwarts is the only Wizarding school in the country. And yes, it is very well-known and _very_ highly thought of." Snape enjoyed saying this, for he always felt proud to explain to people how impressive it was to be a Professor of Hogwarts. Charlotte listened intently, and when she didn't reply Snape realised that she wanted to hear more:

"Hogwarts was founded around 990 A.D. by two wizards and two witches: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They each represented an aspect of personality that they wanted to bring out in new students. They formed four different houses within the school: Gryffindor for the brave, Ravenclaw for the wise, Slytherin for the cunning, and Hufflepuff for the loyal. Each student is sorted into these four houses. The school's exact location is protected, as our teaching methods must be highly confidential at all times to preserve our elite reputation. Plus, or course, we value to safety of our students very strongly." Snape explained, relishing in being able to explain all this to someone who had never heard anything like it before. Charlotte was glowing with excitement at the thought of being sorted into a house – not to mention that the names all sounded completely wonderful!

All they while they had been walking back to King's Cross Station, where Charlotte had been told they were to get the train to Hogwarts.

When they arrived at the station, Charlotte stared blankly at her ticket, which was unlike any muggle train ticket she had ever seen. It said in brown ink: _Hogwarts Express – Platform 9 ¾, 11 o'clock. _Snape, on the other hand, was looking equally blankly at the muggle system of ticket control, wondering if they were going to have to walk through those rather dangerous-looking metal bars. Luckily, he managed to locate Platforms 9 and 10, which were just across from where they were standing.

Receiving some rather confused looks from members of the busy public, Charlotte wheeled her trolley with her trunk and cauldron and owl cage, enjoying how odd she must have looked to others. She already felt as though she was part of the wizarding community, and noticed that she was even referring to the members of the public as 'muggles' in her head. She smiled to herself, before realising that they seemed to have stopped in front of a plain brick wall.

"Excuse me, Professor, but is this Platform 9 ¾?" Charlotte asked, not wanting to directly accuse the professor of getting it wrong. She was shocked to discover, however, that the Professor confidently asserted that they were in the right place.

"Just simply go through that wall, and you will be in the right place. There will be staff members present to show you how to get on the train. Everything else should be fairly straight forward. When you arrive at Hogwarts, follow Hagrid – he's the very tall Keeper or Keys – with all the other first years onto the boats. Is that all you need?" Snape didn't see any reason for him to stay much longer. He had given the child enough money to buy herself something to eat on the train, and she now knew where to go when she arrived. He started to turn away to find a quiet place to apparate, sure that his work was done.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard a sniffle coming from behind him. He turned around to find the girl looking completely lost, standing in front of the large brick wall. She hadn't moved since he had left her, except that tears were now rolling down her cheeks, and she was tilting her head away from the crowd so that no one saw her. He sighed deeply, and not wanting to let Albus down, approached the child once more.

"Miss Bradley, would you like me to walk through with you?" He asked, trying not to sound too annoyed. The girl merely nodded shyly and sniffled as a reply, and he took her arm firmly. Knowing that it was best for first-timers to run at the wall, he decided to take a few steps back, before looking around to make sure that nobody was looking. When he was sure the coast was clear, he made a run for it, dragging the poor girl behind him and almost dislocating her arm as she sprinted to catch up.

Before she knew it, Charlotte saw a flash of darkness, and then the brightness of returning daylight. She had barely left King's Cross station before she was standing on a much busier, and far more interesting platform: Platform 9 ¾. Surrounding her were lots of small, and some older children, all waving goodbye to their parents. Adults – Charlotte assumed these were the 'staff' Snape referred to – were ushering children onto the train, and helping the little ones with their heavy luggage. Owls were swooping around above the train, and some were being carted off to one of the carriages at the back of the train, where they would remain for the journey. In front of her stood the most magnificent steam engine Charlotte had ever seen. It was red and black, with puffs of smoke emitting from the chimney on top, and the words 'Hogwarts Express' written rather ornately at the very front of the train.

Charlotte gasped in awe, the tears already beginning to dry.

Severus looked at the child, seeing how happy she was to be going to Hogwarts. He asked softly, "Are you going to be okay now, child?" wanting to make sure that she was fine before leaving.

"Yes sir," was Charlotte's reply. She didn't really want the professor to leave, but she knew that she would be seeing him soon anyway. When she boarded the train she looked back to see if the Professor was still there, but he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

So this chapter took a while sorry! I hope it's still okay. Snape doesn't feature much in this chapter but don't worry he will come in to the story more and more as the story progresses I promise!

Thanks everyone for reviewing – glad you like it :) Any tips/advice on future chapters would be great of course :D

Anyway...enjoy...

Chapter 6 – Taking The Hogwarts Express

Charlotte slipped her way quietly through the crowds of children waving goodbye to their parents through the open windows. She found an empty carriage – not too difficult, as most were still empty – and sat down, having given her trunk and cauldron to a woman who apparently worked for the Hogwarts Express. Realising that it was probably going to be a long and most likely lonely journey, she took out her Standard Book of Spells and started working on "Lumos", and all the variations thereof, such as "Lumos Maxima"; "Lumos Solem"; "Lumos Duo"; in fact, once she had learnt the basic spell, she could pretty much do either variation with as much ease, and was very pleased at how much she could learn in such a short space of time.

By the time Charlotte had learned all of the "Lumos" charms, and was close to mastering "Mobiliarbus" (which allowed her to not only levitate objects, but move them around in the air), she realised that they must be miles away from London, for outside was nothing but vast stretches of countryside.

Not long after this realisation was Charlotte interrupted by a rather over-confident, tall, and distinctly loud boy, with a prefect badge attached to his robes. The first thing Charlotte thought to do was to shift further along her seat until she sat right by the corner of the carriage window.

"Hello. As _prefect _I just wanted to check that everything was all okay down this end of the train..." Explained the boy, holding out his pin badge to show Charlotte, who nodded with eye-brows raised, trying hard not to roll her eyes at the boy's self-importance.

"It's fine," Charlotte replied politely, not wanting to take up any more of his apparently important time. However it seemed that the boy had other plans, for as soon as Charlotte finished speaking he plonked himself rather heavily on the opposite bench and started looking around for things to occupy himself with.

"Oh, are you doing homework?" He asked, looking over at the girl's textbooks.

"No...just practising," was Charlotte's reply – was she really going to have to explain everything again? Looking at the boy's dumbfounded expression as he realised that he had never seen Charlotte before, she reluctantly explained all – well, all expect for _why _this whole thing had happened. The last thing she needed was for half the school to know about her past.

The boy took a long while to process this rather far-fetched information, before asking finally, "So, what house d'you reckon you'll be in then?"

Charlotte hadn't thought about this yet. She had been so excited at the thought of being sorted that she forgot to think which house she would actually be chosen for. Quickly reminding herself of what Snape had said, she replied, "Well...I don't think I'll be in Gryffindor".

"Oh, what makes you say that?" Asked the boy, feeling slightly offended as he looked down at his red badge with the lion on it.

"Well, it's just that I'm not exactly brave..." The boy tutted in reply to this, having suddenly been distracted by an over-filled and very colourful refreshments trolley.

The kind old woman who was wheeling the trolley asked the two children if they would like anything. The boy, deciding that he had brought enough of his own food for lunch, simply bought a packet of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, while Charlotte bought some pumkin juice, and pumpkin pasty, and a chocolate frog – curious to know exactly what these were.

For a while all was silent as Charlotte tucked in to her pasty, realising how hungry she was. And if it hadn't been for the boy thrusting out his hand (with the packet of Every Flavour Beans in it) in front of her face, Charlotte may not have noticed that he was still there.

"Take one if you like. But be careful. Red ones are usually safest," the boy explained, shaking the packet to show that he still had loads left. At first, Charlotte wasn't going to take one for she was so unused to being offered anything that she was too taken-aback to work out what the boy had said. But after a few more seconds of packet-shaking, Charlotte accepted a bean, and indeed chose a red one in the hope that it would be strawberry, or perhaps raspberry flavoured.

She was wrong. As soon as she placed the sweet in her mouth she felt the burning sensation of red hot chilli swim around her tongue until her eyes began to water. Not wanting to offend the boy, who had kindly given her the bean, she continued to suck on it in disgust, fighting every instinct not to spit it out.

The boy could tell straight away that the girl had been unlucky. Why didn't she just spit it out? She must have been brave if she really wanted to eat a chilli-flavoured bean – perhaps she would be in Gryffindor after all.

After swallowing the disgusting sweet, Charlotte returned the favour by offering the boy her chocolate frog.

"Hey, no way! I only gave you a bean – besides, you can collect those things you know?" Said the boy, openly refusing the girl's offer. He was amazed at the girls disproportionate kindness and certainly didn't want to take advantage of that.

"Oh...OK, well you can have a bit of it then," Resolved the girl, who hated the idea of not reciprocating the boy's act of kindness. After all, until a few days ago she had never been given anything in her life, and it was all still very new to her. The boy warned her to be careful, before she ripped open the packaging to reveal a very jumping, smooth frog made out of perfect milk-chocolate. She grabbed it instinctively and watched is struggle. Not wanting to eat it, for it looked so alive, she set it down on the table and only grabbed it to stop it from jumping away. The boy was staring incredulously at her; _why didn't she just eat it? _

Charlotte finally got used to the idea that the frog was purely made of chocolate, and when the charm eventually began to die down, she snapped off a leg and gave it to the boy, eating the rest herself. She then turned her attention to the card, which to her astonishment was moving. It was a picture of an old, wrinkled creature that looked distinctly disaproving. It had a large hooked nose, and sharp finger nails. Charlotte decided that she didn't like the look of him, whoever he was.

"Oh, that's Gringott! He was the founder of Gringotts," Explained the boy, looking very excited.

"What's Gringotts?" Charlotte asked, hating that she still had so much to learn.

"Oh...it's just a bank," the boy replied distractedly, looking at the card. "I haven't got him yet," After seeing the confused look of the girl's face, he explained all about chocolate frogs and how the cards were really collectable.

"Oh, well, seeing as you don't have him yet then you better take it," Said Charlotte instinctively, knowing that she had something that the boy wanted; she felt very uncomfortable keeping something that somebody was jealous of.

The boy stared at her in disbelief. _Perhaps she will be in Hufflepuff, _he thought, contemplating the girl's unusual friendliness. Despite his surprise, he didn't give up his opportunity to add Gringott to his collection, and took the card happily. Charlotte was pleased that she had been able to give the boy something in return for the Bertie Bott's Bean, even if it had been chilli flavoured. The boy sat quietly admiring his card for a while, before speaking suddenly:

"Right, I'd better be getting a move on then! You best change in to your robes – we'll be arriving soon," He swished his over-grown hair out of his face and stood up, brushing a few crumbs from his lunch off his trousers as he did so. On hearing this, Charlotte got out her wand and summoned her robes with "accio". The boy looked very impressed as he saw the ease at which the Madam Malkin's brown case appeared in the girl's arms.

"Are you sure this if your first year?" He asked, wondering why it had taken him so long to learn that useful spell. _Ravenclaw...almost definitely._

"Yes..." Charlotte replied simply, already unpacking her uniform.

"That's amazing. I'm Johnny by the way, Johnny Merton." Charlotte said that it was nice to meet him, and gave him her own name. He then shuffled off, and she left the carriage herself to find the toilet, where she could get changed into her robes.

By the time the Hogwarts Express came to a stop, Charlotte was standing ready by the door with trunk in hand and robes neatly worn. Almost as soon as the train stopped the doors opened, and Charlotte was met with a discomfortingly loud and disorderly platform, which very soon became filled with students of all heights and ages. Charlotte tried to remember what Professor Snape had told her, before locating the very tall man amongst the crowd.

"First years, this way," He was calling out, and quickly he was surrounded by a crowd of small, excited looking children – albeit a little intimidated. Charlotte resented having to follow the group of first years, but was glad to see that they were just as nervous as she was.

It was apparently customary for first years to arrive at the castle by boat. Charlotte had of course read a lot of Hogwarts: A history by now, but she still wasn't sure why each year had a different method of arriving at the school. She assumed that it was all part of the tradition, no matter how pointless, and climbed into a boat where she was joined by two first years who were clinging timidly to each other. They didn't make eye contact with the girl (who was obviously older than them) and certainly made no effort to be friendly. Charlotte smiled at them, but realised quickly that they were not going to reciprocate, and so merely stared down at the water for the duration of the boat journey.

It wasn't until she saw the reflection of the great castle in the water that Charlotte thought to look up. When she did, she was confronted with the most magnificent building she had ever seen: towers at every angle, with high turrets and a spectacular front door.

Climbing back out of the boat, it was all Charlotte could do to simply star up at the school before her. The very tall man – who was apparently called Hagrid – swung his arms towards the great door, and they split apart to reveal an ornate, beautiful little room. The first years all gathered into the room, and were buzzing with conversation and excitement. Until the doors were shut once again and Hagrid left; as a mysterious old lady in dark green robes and a flopping witch's hat revealed herself from a dark corner, everything went silent.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7! This was so fun to write – I know that the sorting hat song is nowhere near the same standard as J.K's, but hope you like it anyway :D

Snape does feature in this a bit but like I said before he will come into the story a lot more next chapter :P

Please review/feedback if you read it...enjoy...

Chapter 7 – The One and Only Sorting Hat

For a while, the children stood listening to Professor McGonagall, who spoke to them about the house system of Hogwarts; about each individual house, and how the children may win or lose house points accordingly. Charlotte listened avidly, and did not once let her attention slip. Finally, McGonagall turned and waited for the grand doors to open.

The doors revealed the most spectacular hall that Charlotte had ever seen. Four long tables, each next to their own individual house flag and hour glass, lined the hall. At the end was the teachers' table, with Professor Dumbledore stood in the centre of the table behind a golden stand with a phoenix carved into the top. The ceiling had been bewitched to mimic the weather outside, which was currently pitch black but for a large collection of tiny stars. Very few clouds littered the sky, and Charlotte looked up in awe at the clarity of each of the star constellations that were visible. Candles floated here and there, lighting up the hall splendidly. Charlotte noticed that there was no electricity in the whole school, but instead the entire building was lit by candle-light. She wondered how it managed to be so bright, before reminding herself that of course in this world, it was hardly impossible. She would have to get used to that.

The Transfiguration Professor led the first years (and Charlotte) to stand in front of a little stool, on which stood a rather battered looking old hat with a rip at the front.

"Before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to make some announcements," McGonagall addressed the entire hall, gesturing for the headmaster to begin.

"The very best of evenings to you! To our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you," Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled severely as he beamed at his school, "Now...Sing, Sorting Hat, Sing! Thank you"

Charlotte wondered why the headmaster had given such a short speech, and why he was smiling so euphorically. But she didn't mind. In fact, it was rather contagious, for she found herself smiling straight back at him, and waiting with curiosity for the hat to sing. Accordingly, the hat ripped open to reveal a mouth shape, and took a deep breath:

_I may look tattered and dishevelled,_

_But oh! The things I've seen,_

_I've been here from the very start,_

_A thousand places I have been._

_I remember first brave Gryffindor,_

_who wanted students bright and bold,_

_For only in Gryffindor could their _

_courageousness unfold. _

_And then good natured Hufflepuff,_

_For her the loyal shone through,_

_As only the students fair at heart_

_Were just in Helga's view. _

_Next was ingenious Ravenclaw _

_For her intelligence was key._

_Students with great wit and skill,_

_Could be the best there'll ever be._

_And last but not least Slytherin,_

_Dark, but great and true,_

_The cunning and the pure of blood,_

_Would be a Slytherin through and through._

_So try me on and do not fear,_

_I will find the house you're for,_

_For I'm the one and only Sorting Hat,_

_And believe me...I see all. _

Charlotte listened with her mouth open; excited of course, but suddenly terrified at having to be sorted in front of the entire school.

"When I call your name, you will come up to the front; I will place the hat upon your head, and you will be sorted into your houses," McGonagall explained as though she had said it a thousand times, "Crocker, Thomas"

The boy who was apparently called Thomas Crocker shuffled over to the front, and allowed the hat to flop over his eyes. Everybody waited with baited breath for the hat's verdict:

"Okay...hmmm...I see. Well, better be...Hufflepuff!" Cried out the hat, looking pleased – as pleased as a hat can look anyway – with its choice. Next came the two girls who Charlotte had shared a boat with. One after the other, they were both sorted into Slytherin. Charlotte couldn't say she was surprised. Then there was a boy who swaggered up to the hat with complete confidence and ease: the hat barely touched his hair before screaming out "Gryffindor".

Slowly, the group decreased in size as each child got sorted. Roughly ten students to each house, leaving Charlotte left standing on her own at the front of the school. She began to get very nervous, and wished that Professor Snape was there to make her feel less alone. She looked around, seeing every eye in the hall staring at her. Even the teachers were glaring; waiting for Professor McGonagall to call out her name. Charlotte ran her eyes across the teachers' table, until she found the potions professor.

Snape looked at the child, feeling how nervous she must be. He had been momentarily glad that he no longer had to be responsible for the over-sensitive child, and as he arrived at the school he had resolved to have nothing more to d with her than with the rest of his students. But as he saw her painfully shy eyes look up to him for reassurance, he couldn't help but smile assuredly at her, as though telling her that everything would be fine.

As her name was called, Charlotte walked up, knowing that Snape was watching her. She allowed the hat to flop over her eyes and cover half of her face. She was breathing very heavily, but was glad at least that no one could see her eyes as tears filled them. Snape, who had a perfect view of the poor girl could see her shaking, and wished he could to something to help.

"Ah! It has mean many years that I have had the pleasure of sorting a mind so experienced..." Began the hat, alluding to Charlotte's age compared to the usual first years. "Let's see...let's see. Well, there's courage here definitely...the things you've seen..." Mused the hat. Charlotte wished it wouldn't think aloud so much, but nevertheless she was very impressed at what a mere hat could do, "But nerves too...Hmmm...and loyalty, yes...Hufflepuff could see great things from you. Ah! But that mind! So rich; such potential. I know just what to do with you...Ravenclaw!" The hat shouted out across the entire hall and the Ravenclaw table clapped loudly. Snape was slightly disappointed that she hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, but was hardly surprised; in truth he was more just relieved that the girl hadn't been put in Hufflepuff. Dumbledore cheered, happy that he had been right about involving Professor Flitwick in Charlotte's case. And Professor Flitwick himself practically jumped out of his seat – always happy to gain a new Ravenclaw.

Charlotte looked up at Snape again when McGonagall lifted the hat away, seeing that he was still smiling. She smiled back shyly, before making her way to a free seat on the Ravenclaw table.

As she sat, Dumbledore stood once more and addressed the whole school:

"Let the feast begin!" he sat down consequently, and Charlotte looked around in amazement as the tables suddenly became laden with more food than she had ever seen.

There was roast chicken, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, steak, chips, peas, carrots, gravy, lamb chops, sausages – in fact, almost anything Charlotte could possibly want to eat, it was there somewhere on the table. Even peppermint humbugs, although Charlotte decided to give those a miss. A girl with ginger hair who was apparently a fourth year as well offered her some mashed potato, and Charlotte excepted gratefully. In return, she served those around her with gravy, and then grabbed a little of (almost) everything, and tucked in, realising how hungry she was having only hat a small pasty for lunch.

She looked around happily, feeling that she was home for the first time.

When she had eaten so much that she swore she would never eat again, the tables were momentarily cleared, only to be filled once again with a whole new course of dessert. There were blocks of assorted ice cream, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, and rice pudding. Finding room somewhere, Charlotte managed a serving of trifle, before finally pushing her plate away and washing everything down with some pumpkin juice.

Eventually, everyone had finished. The tables were cleared, and Dumbledore stood yet again to speak to his school for the last time that evening:

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song! Everyone pick their favourite tune and off we go!" He flicked out a ribbon, which floated in the air creating the lyrics of the song for the students to sing along to. He then took out his wand, and tapped it on the golden stand, counting the children in:

_Hogwarts__, __Hogwarts__, Hoggy Warty __Hogwarts__,  
Teach us something, please,  
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot. _

Charlotte enjoyed the anonymity of being able to sing without anyone listening directly to her. She chose the tune of 'She loves you' by the Beatles, and sung to herself, giggling every now and then at the absurdity of the situation. In time, everyone finished, and as the last few students sang out – obviously enjoying performing in front of the school, something Charlotte would never understand – Dumbledore laughed kindly and got rid of the floating ribbon.

"And now to bed, Goodnight everyone! First years, follow your house's prefects to your dorms. Get a good night's rest and be bright for lessons tomorrow!" Dumbledore spoke kindly to the first years, all of whom looked most annoyed at the thought of going to bed when they'd much rather explore the castle.

Charlotte wasn't sure where to go, but knew from Hogwarts: A History that the Ravenclaw common room was located in the Ravenclaw Tower. Knowing that she could hardly follow the first years into their dorms, she tried to find the ginger girl amongst the crowd of students all rushing to get out of the great hall. She spotted her vivid hair a few feet away, and pushed past the crowd until she was just behind her.

Following the ginger haired girl and a few of her fourth year friends, Charlotte walked across half the school in order to get to her common room. She was rather frightened to find out that the staircases had an annoying habit of moving, and she was sure that finding her way around the school was not going to be easy.

After what seemed like an age, they arrived at a spiral staircase that wound all the way up the tower, until it came to a door without a doorknob or keyhole, but a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. It seemed that the first years had already been taken up to their own dorms, for there was no one waiting outside of the door but for the group of fourth years, with Charlotte tagging on behind and feeling most out of place.

_"What came first, the Phoenix or the Flame?" _Asked the door. Charlotte remembered reading that each common room had a unique way of entering, designed to suit its students. For Gryffindors they must say a password to a portrait; for Hufflepuffs they must tap a barrel to the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'; Slytherins must say a password to a stone wall in the dungeons that changes fortnightly. And for Ravenclaws, they must answer a question.

"Which came first? Phoenix or flame?" The girls had their hands on their foreheads, trying to remember all that they had learnt in History of Magic about the history of the Phoenix. After about 5 minutes of standing around had passed, the girls started to become a little anxious.

"I don't know!" they were saying, both to the door and to each other. Charlotte, on the other hand, recognised the question as similar to an old muggle question that was often asked to confuse people. When in truth, it didn't have an answer.

"Um...excuse me...I think I might know," Charlotte said reluctantly, not wanting to interrupt for the fourth years were obviously in a state of stress already.

"What? How could you possibly know?" Asked a girl that Charlotte had remembered from the table,

"Well...A circle has no beginning." The words had barely left her mouth before the door swung smoothly open to reveal a wide, circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows hung with blue and bronze silks, and a domed ceiling painted with stars. The fourth years stared angrily in disbelief at the girl, who walked in anxiously, looking around at the room in excitement. The room was furnished with tables, chairs, and bookcases, and all was coloured blue and bronze – the colours of Ravenclaw.

Beside the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw was the entrance to the dorms. Charlotte noticed that the first years were already in bed in their dormitory, and so she continued quietly up to her fourth year dorm, waiting for the others to arrive a few steps behind her.

She got into her pyjamas, and quickly went to the bathroom to look around, as well as get ready for bed. She then located her bed right by the window (which had her trunk already waiting for her), with an excellent view of the school grounds and what looked like a sports pitch – although why the goals were so high up she didn't know. She thought that perhaps she hadn't seen properly, for it was very dark. She tucked herself into her bed covers, and turned to face the window.

The sound of wind whistling around the windows of the tower was relaxing, and soon Charlotte found herself falling asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Snape is back! Sorry if the last few chapters have been a bit rubbish – all part of the set up really :D

If you'd like to give any advice/suggestions for future chapters then go ahead because I'd love to incorporate other people's ideas :P

Chapter 8 - Professor Snape and the Bloody Baron

Charlotte woke abruptly, sweating and shaking as she was used to. She tried not to scream, but as her emotions struggled to keep up with her returning consciousness she couldn't help but 'yelp' rather suddenly before she quite had time to realise where she was. Before she could do anything about it, a few of the other girls began to wake up, and it wasn't long until half the dorm was sitting upright on their beds.

"What's the matter, for Merlin's sake?!" Exclaimed a friend of the ginger haired girl.

"Are you feeling sick?" Asked the ginger haired girl, following her friend's example. She looked genuinely concerned, while her friend looked more exasperated; everyone looked not a little annoyed at being woken in the middle of the night.

"Oh Jenny, why do you always have to get involved?" A girl from across the room questioned the ginger haired girl – apparently called Jenny – with an interrogative tone. Charlotte simply sat and watched as the girls tried to figure out why they had been so rudely interrupted from their sleep. She herself just wanted to be alone; to forget what had just happened, and read her Standard Book of Spells in peace, and hopefully get some more rest before morning. She was awfully tired after all.

"Does it really matter?" Asked Jenny's friend, whose bleached blonde hair seemed unnaturally neat for someone who had just woken up. She too was tired, and didn't see why the new girl warranted so much attention all of a sudden.

"Oh, Catherine, you're so heartless. Did you have a bad dream?" Jenny first addressed her friend, and then Charlotte, who was whimpering still from her place in the corner of the room – a position she found herself in more often than she would have liked.

"I'm fine..." Charlotte mumbled rather dismissively, hoping the girls would get bored of her and just go back to bed. She was lucky, for with that statement a few of them shuffled back into their quilts and it wasn't long before they were snuffling in their sleep. Jenny continued to stare at the girl for a while, wondering why Charlotte hadn't admitted to being frightened, before she went back to bed herself (not wanting to upset the new girl by asking more questions). Charlotte quietly got out her Standard Book of Spells and decided to focus on memorising the Silencing Charm – which of course she would need no doubt the next morning if she was to get washed and dressed in peace.

The next morning, after taking a shower in the Ravenclaw bathrooms – always an exciting affair for first-time students – Charlotte made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Which wasn't too difficult because even in a castle as big as Hogwarts it was hard to miss the crowds of children all going in the same direction – all she had to do was follow them.

Once again the tables were lined with a huge variety of food items, although perhaps not quite as much as the feast from the night before. Charlotte sat at the end of the Ravenclaw table and helped herself to pancakes – something she had only ever eaten once before from a crepe stall in France that she had passed on her walk to school – which exploded with fillings of caramel and chocolate sauce and lemon juice and sugar. Although she was sat alone at an otherwise empty part of the table, she couldn't help but beam happily.

A few minutes into her meal, Charlotte heard a screech, followed by another, and another. Before she knew it the room was filled with owls flying in from every angle, each carrying little letters and parcels. Some children received more than others: most had at least one letter from their family, and some had larger parcels of things they had either forgotten to pack, or never even thought to bring. Charlotte was surprised to find that when Sidcup came bustling through it dropped a collection of three letters on her lap, before landing most inelegantly into a bowl of porridge. Those around her laughed at the little owl, who looked most disgruntled at its slightly messy landing. Charlotte merely took at her wand, and it was with an almost tired expression on her face that she performed a cleaning charm, already opening one of her letters with the other hand. The laughter soon abated as people saw the ease at which the new girl performed a pretty complex charm. Some were impressed; some were jealous. But either way, the bird fluffed its feathers and scurried off, and no more was said on the matter.

The first letter was from Julia, and read:

_Dear Charlotte,_

_ Glad you're having a nice time._

_ Be good. Get enough sleep. Don't get into trouble._

_ Julia._

Charlotte hadn't expected much but she had to admit that even for someone as insignificant as her Julia could have spent more time on writing the letter. She had after all written a good few pages all about Diagon Alley and Professor Snape and Hogwarts, of course. Charlotte assumed that muggles just would never understand the wizarding world. It was as though none of it was ever really processed by a muggle – in the most simple way possible their minds just breeze over the facts and simply accept what is happening. She scrunched up the letter and through it into the middle of the hall. Almost instantly, a house elf clicked its way to the Great Hall and got rid of it, although Charlotte didn't see, for she was already opening her second letter.

The second letter was from Professor Flitwick, and said:

_Dear Miss Bradley,_

_ I don't suppose you would appreciate being given your schedule along with all the other first years, so I have enclosed it in this letter. The core subjects are: Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration. We have chosen Ancient runes_

_Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures as extra subjects to begin your OWLs. _

_ Have a good term,_

_ Professor Flitwick._

Charlotte looked around. She saw that everyone else was getting their schedules, and was relieved that she wouldn't have to wait until Flitwick reached her on his long list of pupils. He had already given out all of the fourth years', for it was customary for heads of house to give the first years their schedules separately, so that they could do the usual spiel about homework and being punctual. Of course, Charlotte was technically listed with all the other first years, even though her schedule was with the rest of her fourth year. At any rate, she was glad to have been given it now, and was particularly happy when she saw that she had double potions first with Snape_._

The third letter was from professor Snape, instructing Charlotte to come to his office before classes started. So, taking the schedule and putting it safely in her robes, she went down to the dungeons to find Professor Snape.

It wasn't long before she found the dungeons, especially after she asked a kind looking second year who was wondering quite aimlessly about the place. As she stepped onto the cold stone floor the smell of potions instantly hit her. She breathed in, and smiled at familiar smells similar to those she had been so fascinated with in Diagon Alley. She walked along the corridor searching in vein for a room that looked like it might belong to the potions master.

All of a sudden, when Charlotte was about half way along the stone passage, she heard a blood curdling laugh that made her entire spine shiver. She felt instantly terrified and tried to find a place to hide, only to see that the walls were bare and the corridor seemed to continue almost endlessly in every direction. As far as she could tell, she was trapped – and she didn't even know what she was trying to hide from yet. All too soon she saw the silvery figure emerge from nowhere, still laughing, and wielding a long, silver sword across his face. If Charlotte hadn't been so taken-aback then she would have recognised him from Hogwarts: A History as the Bloody Baron, but she was far too scared to notice. Ghosts, in her muggle mind, were still the stuff of Halloween horror stories, and to be confronted by one in the middle of a castle dungeon was just a little too much. Acting purely on instinct, Charlotte curled up into a ball making herself as small as possible, and started crying. Her screams could be heard even as they were muffled against her robes; she looked a most sorry sight.

The Bloody Baron almost rolled his eyes as he realised how easy it had been to frighten the girl. He enjoyed scaring first years as much as the next ghost, but it really wasn't fun if they were going to give in that easily. Sighing, he thought he would at least get the most out of it; he took a deep breath and roared with evil laughter, calling upon every Slytherin instinct he had.

Snape, who had been in his office just going over his lesson plan for the next 2 hours, heard all. He was quite used to the Baron's pathetic attempts at scaring the children, but wasn't so used to hearing the children cry in fear back at him. His heart leapt most unusually when he realised that it must have been Charlotte. He swooped his robes across his body and stormed out into the open corridor, firing curses and jinxing towards the horrible Slytherin Ghost who recoiled as he saw the Professor. In less than a minute he had vanished into a wall, and Charlotte was left crouching in the middle of the passageway crying uncontrollably.

Snape wasn't entirely sure what to do. He knew that he wasn't angry, which in itself was a first. But he also knew that comforting sensitive children was not something he was greatly experienced in. Nevertheless, he knew he had to try, for the girl was evidently distraught, and after all he was the adult here. He bent down beside the girl and took her by the shoulders, encouraging her to stand up. Gently, he then quickly cleaned her face with a simple spell, and watched as the girl whimpered in a mixture of anxiety and embarrassment.

"It's alright, Miss Bradley. That was the Slytherin ghost. You'll have to get used to him, I'm afraid. He rather likes to terrorize our new students. But don't worry, he can't hurt you..." Snape explained softly, surprised at how quickly he was able to reassure the child. Charlotte, who was still sniffling but not quite as much as before, was surprised herself. She had never been comforted before in her life – except perhaps for when she was a baby, but she couldn't remember that. Okay, so the Professor had called her by her last name, but it was still the closest she had ever come to feeling safe.

"B-but Professor. There's so much I don't know..." Charlotte took this opportunity to say what she had been wanting to say since the first day at Diagon Alley. She loved the wizarding world, but she did feel incredibly lost.

"Miss Bradley, do not worry. Dumbledore has asked me to help you catch up – that's what I wanted to talk to you about – and if your performance so far is anything to go by then it won't be long before you're on the same level as half the Hufflepuffs in your year," Snape smirked as he thought about the Hufflepuff students and their blatant inability to accurately concoct even the simplest of potions.

"The hat was wrong...I'm not brave..." Charlotte began to whimper again as she thought about how pathetic she was being,

"Foolish child. Sorting hats don't lie. Come now, lessons will be starting soon."

Charlotte smiled weakly, and looked up at the Professor, who looked straight back at her reassuringly. She felt embarrassed when her Professor had called her foolish, but she knew that it was what she deserved. She watched momentarily as the Professor walked back into the office, before realising that her class was beginning to accumulate outside of the potions classroom. Inconspicuously, she joined them, waiting for her first lesson at Hogwarts to begin.


	9. Chapter 9

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Chapter 9 – Draught of Peace

The potions classroom was a relatively small, oval sized room with dark corners and bottles filled with different coloured liquids upon shelves that covered every wall. It smelt strongly of a mixture of different potions; some sweet, some rather horrible. But Charlotte liked it nonetheless. She had been excited about all aspects of magic, naturally, but potions was by far the most fascinating in her opinion, for it reminded her of her hobbies as a muggle child. She had read George's Marvellous Medicine by Roal Dahl, and had since made funny little potions and concoctions out of her Aunt's make-up and soap. The thought that her funny little pretend potions might actually one day work had always been something of great excitement to Charlotte, and now here she was, about to create something just like that – for real!

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making.I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as you were last year, that is." Snape entered the room, speaking coldly as he walked up to the front. The Hufflepuff students all rolled their eyes – this was going to be another year filled with Snape's snide remarks and cruel sarcasm. The Ravenclaws sighed deeply and wished that for once Snape wouldn't refer to them as 'dunderheads' – after all, they were in Ravenclaw for a reason. Charlotte, however, smiled as her eyes glistened with excitement. She recognised Snape's tone of voice as much like her old French teachers – stern, but certainly admiring of their subject. She thought how nice it would be to teach something you enjoyed so much, although she could appreciate how annoying it must be to constantly tell people what to do, only to find that they can never seem to do it properly.

Snape stood at the front in silence, allowing his students to think quietly to themselves. He knew that most would have probably dismissed his little introduction before he'd even finished, but perhaps this year at least some of it would sink in.

"This year, we shall be starting preparation for your OWLs, which you will be taking at the end of your fifth year. Those of you who do well this year may take Potions next year. And for those who don't think that potions are a necessary part of wizardry...well, I dare say you'll have fun in Muggle Studies." Snape smirked quietly to himself, although most of the students didn't even notice. They were far too used to his comments by now. Charlotte had been very surprised to hear that Muggle Studies was a subject at Hogwarts, but she was quickly snapped out of her train of thought as Snape spoke once more:

"Today we shall be making The Draught of Peace," Snape said slowly, wondering if anyone would notice that he had deliberately set his class a fifth-year assignment, so that he could re-assess his students and see which ones were worse than others. Plus he was still angry from his encounter with the Bloody Baron, and looked forward to seeing some of the ridiculous attempts that were bound to be made. Thinking of the Bloody Baron, he looked up at Charlotte, who appeared to be most fascinated, but distinctly agitated from sitting in a room full of people she had never met before. Thinking slowly, he said, "Anyone who makes a _perfect_ draught may take a small vile with them as a reward," hoping that his instincts about the child were right.

Tiredly, already forgetting the summer holidays as though they'd been back at school for weeks, the students grabbed their textbooks and ingredients, and got started. Charlotte stayed routed to her seat, not wanting to walk across the classroom. Apart from anything else, she didn't know where things were kept, and most certainly she did not want to risk bumping into someone who was carrying anything that could be spilled.

Snape came round and poured some sort of 'base' potion into everyone's cauldron – which was apparently pre-made to save time, although didn't impact on the students' grades – and Charlotte shuffled over timidly to get some powdered moonstone, which was apparently needed first. She added the powdered moonstone into the base potion until it turned green. Then, with her pewter ladle that Snape had bought her, she stirred the potion until it turned blue. Adding powdered moonstone in again, she waited patiently for the potion to turn purple. It did so beautifully, and she stared at the brilliantly violet coloured potion for a moment, before consulting the instruction on what to do next.

The instructions said to allow the potion to simmer until the potion turned pink, which she did with ease. While waiting, she located the syrup of hellebore and measured out the exact amount, before adding it in at the right time, watching in relief as the potion turned turqoise. Charlotte continued down the long list, adding powdered porcupine quills and unicorn horn, and stirring and simmering; all in a very specific order. Not wanting to make a mistake on her first lesson, Charlotte did everything meticulously, and even bothered to filter out the power so that there were no unusual lumps in the mixture. Eventually, not knowing that it was nearly impossible to make a potion perfectly, Charlotte was finished. She looked down nervously at the silvery white liquid in her cauldron – hoping more than anything that it was just white enough.

Professor Snape swept down the line of desks, peering sceptically into the children's' cauldrons. Some where far too thick; some were still orange; some were smoking and bubbling most dangerously. Exasperated, Snape scourgified each attempt one by one, calling out the grades as he went – most of which barely made it passed '0'. Until he came to Charlotte, sitting at the back. He stared down at her beautifully white, smooth liquid that shimmered in her cauldron. He looked at her desk and saw tiny little specs of powder that had been just too big to be acceptable, and tiny measuring cylinders that had been used to measure the syrup of hellebore with remarkable accuracy. For a while, Snape said nothing, and Charlotte became increasingly worried that she had done something wrong. What she didn't know was that Snape was truly stunned. He didn't want the child to know this, of course, especially seeing as the entire class was watching. But he knew that as soon as the lesson was finished, he would most certainly be having a word with Dumbledore.

Snape gave Charlotte full marks, and produced a vile from out of nowhere with a wave of his hand. Scooping the mixture up, he explained that there was enough for a week or so...after that, the potion would become ineffective anyway. Charlotte thanked him gratefully, thinking how wonderful it was that she had a week's worth of what was essentially a calming potion. Snape explained of course that he couldn't let the child have any more than that, because she would risk becoming reliant on the substance. But Charlotte didn't mind – she was perfectly glad to have been given anything at all.

A few of the other children complained and grumbled in their seats as they saw the new girl being rewarded, but Snape resisted the urge to tell them what he was thinking; after all, it was less hassle to just ignore them.

Assigning them an essay on The Draught of Peace as homework, Snape dismissed the class, and began making his way straight to the headmaster's office. While Charlotte walked off to the library, hoping to find a book to read that could tell her more about the widarding world.

Snape entered the headmaster's office, uttering the words 'sherbet lemon' most reluctantly – for he greatly resented Dumbledore's choice of such a childish password. _Typical Gryffindor_ he thought to himself, before the headmaster had a chance to look up.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, my dear man?" Asked Dumbledore welcoming Snape to take a seat. Snape did so, adjusting his robes so that he wasn't sitting on them.

"It's Charlotte Bradley, Albus. She prepared the Draught of Peace this morning flawlessly. I have never seen such a thing from a fourth year student – let alone a student who has only just started the subject."

"You are suggesting the girl cheated?" Asked Dumbledore suspiciously, knowing that Snape must have surely had a reason to come to him other than just to praise the child.

"No Albus, she can't have – I saw all of her ingredients on her desk. Plus you forget that I am a legilimens...I know when a student is lying to me." Snape explained matter-of-factly. "I am simply wondering how the girl is so talented if this is her first year?"

"My dear man, ignorance and skill are too very different things. Besides, you remember the time you made your first potion?" Albus' eyes twinkled as Snape reminisced about his first ever potions lesson. His potion had been flawless. Of course, he _had _been doing a much more straightforward potion along with the other first years, but then following a set of instructions is more or less the same if you have the talent to start with. "Such talent is rare," Dumbledore continued interrupting Severus' thought track, "but it exists..." the headmaster trailed off, thinking of what Hogwarts might have been if such talent hadn't existed. Snape seemed satisfied, but wanted to get just one more thing off his chest before he left:

"Albus, the girl is so incredibly nervous. How do you expect me to teach her everything she's missed if she can barely even talk to people?" Snape asked all in one go, not wanting to complain to Dumbledore, who he knew was always right. But he hadn't meant to question his authority – he just wanted some clarification, feeling fed up with the headmaster's tendency to formulate elaborate plans without letting anyone else know.

"That is why I chose you, Severus," Dumbledore said rather cryptically, deliberately not giving Snape a full answer. Severus rolled his eyes and very nearly protested, before realising where he was. He didn't like the idea of being stuck with the child, but he trusted Dumbledore unquestioningly. So, not saying anything, Snape merely nodded and swept out of the room, trying not to think too much about how difficult the next term was going to be.

As Charlotte sat in the library, beginning her potions essay (having given up on trying to look for more books as she kept accidentally opening books that protested to being opened) she heard whispers from behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Jenny and Catherine as well as a few other girls from the lesson before all huddled behind her. They were speaking most harshly, trying to be quiet, although occasionally giggling and hissing loudly. Charlotte began to feel quite paranoid, and so moved in closer in order to listen to their conversation:

_"She did the potion right first time last lesson..."_

_ "And she woke me up last night!"_

_ "I reckon she cheated – no way can someone do a potion first time."_

_ "I needed the peace draught as well – I'm the one who actually finds potions stressful, not her!"_

Charlotte listened ashamedly as the girls gossiped about her. She hadn't meant to be that good last lesson – she thought that everyone would have done the same as her. After all, she had only followed the instructions. She began to feel tears prickle in her eyes, and decided to get out of there as quickly as possible. She got up, practically throwing her parchment and quill into her robes, and ran out – receiving some most unusual stares from people nearby.

As she raced down the corridor, she was terrified to find that she was alone in the corridor – thus had no one to follow. The stair cases creaked this way and that; the portraits talked about the most unhelpfully unrelated things; and the ghosts seem to just float in one direction irrespective of whether there was a wall in front of them or not. Charlotte gave up and allowed the tears to roll down her cheeks. She felt stupid and childish. She knew that she wasn't allowed to cry, and was terrified to think what would happen if someone was to catch her like that.

Heart racing, she struggled to think of a solution to her most wretched situation. Suddenly, she remembered the little vile that was sitting in her robe pocket. Still crying, she reached her hand deep into her pocket and lifted out the tiny bottle with the white liquid still inside. Knowing how wrong it would have been in the muggle world to actually drink one of her home-made concoctions, she sipped slowly and waited.

At that exact moment, Snape came rushing down the corridor, for he had seen the girl instantly on his way back to the dungeons.

"Miss Bradley, what happened?" He asked in a concerned tone, resisting the urge to smirk at the sight of the girl's red face.

"Some girls were talking about – nothing, sir..." Charlotte decided that it was best not to explain, for she didn't want to get anyone in trouble. Snape understood perfectly, and didn't press Charlotte for further explanation. He would most certainly be having a word with Filius later, but the girl didn't need to know that.

"Sir...I think I might be lost," Charlotte whimpered, no longer pretending to be fine. She wondered how long it was going to take for the potion to work – perhaps never. She thought that maybe it wasn't flawless after all. Snape noticed the open vile in Charlotte's hand, and reached out quickly to put the stop back on it, not wanting the girl to spill what she had left. He saw that she had taken a sip of some, which he was glad of, but knew that it wouldn't have an effect for another few minutes. Slipping the stopped-up bottle back into the girl's hand, he took her arm rather forcefully – he still wasn't used to being so considerate, although he knew that he should help.

"Where is your next lesson, child?" Snape asked.

"Transfiguration," Charlotte said miserably. She had been excited about it before break, but now she wasn't so sure, for she knew that Jenny and Catherine and all their friends would most likely be in the same class.

"Very well," said Snape, instantly knowing what to do next. He turned straight into the nearest room, which had a fireplace at one end. He led Charlotte right into the fireplace, and told her to brace herself and close her eyes. Confused, Charlotte watched as the potions master dropped a handful of green power over them, and said clearly "Minerva McGonagall's office". Charlotte felt warmth flow up around her, and her balance was completely lost. Everything went black, before she found herself collapsing onto a stone floor by the side of another fireplace in the Deputy Head's office.

"Wait there, child," Snape saw Charlotte on the floor and smirked to himself, knowing that she was still too shocked to notice. He left her where she was and went over to Minerva's desk, explaining everything to her. "She has taken a dose of Peace Draught," he explained finally, "it should have an effect soon. Until then, you might wish to show her to her classroom so she doesn't get lost again." With that, Snape left. Professor McGonagall led Charlotte to her seat at the front of the classroom, where she could be watched closely.

Sure enough, the potion began to make itself useful, and it wasn't long before Charlotte was most enjoying turning beetles into buttons for the next hour. And thus her week continued, with the aid of her little vile of potion. By the end of her first week, Charlotte was rather getting used to the idea of magic and wizardry, and she had almost forgotten what she had heard in the library.


	10. Chapter 10

Hi...just to let you know I corrected Chapter 9 :)

Just to warn you, this chapter might get a little cute towards the end, but I really wanted to show Snape's caring side, although he is still Severus Snape - I haven't just completely changed his character ;)

Please review if you liked it/would like me to make any changes...

Chapter 10 – Levicorpus

By the end of her first two weeks at Hogwarts Charlotte had a fair idea of her strengths and weaknesses in the wizarding world. Ancient Runes proved to be very easy – after all, she had learnt French pretty easily, so learning runes wasn't much different. Arithmancy and A History of Magic were incredibly straight forward, and seemed to be almost exactly like the muggle equivalents, only ten times more interesting. With the help of Snape's catch-up classes, Charlotte was pretty much level with the other students at Charms, and she was positively top of the class in Transfiguration, having been put at the front of the class so that McGonagall could teach her all the basics while the other students were still trying to perfect last lesson's spell. Best of all was Potions. For this, Charlotte had a knack that Snape knew was rare even in the most talented of wizards – secretly, he even doubted if Albus could have worked at her level in his fourth year. Nevertheless, all of Charlotte's teachers kept a fair attitude and never singled her out, for which she was glad.

However, Defence Against the Dark Arts proved difficult to say the least. In theory, Charlotte had a good understanding of the various spells and counter-jinxes that they were to perform. But it practice, she seemed to be completely useless. She resented having to perform the spells in front of the rest of the class, for one, and combined with the added aspect of a threat which had to be countered in the first place, Charlotte found herself in a constant state of panic throughout the DADA lessons. Flying was another subject which she found hard. It seemed a shame that even in the wizarding world she had the sporting capacity of a potato, but she was hardly surprised. Preferring to think of her talents as very much academic, she didn't mind too much that she could barely even stay on a broomstick; she was at least happy to have found a sport that was fun to watch.

For her first week, she had got of to a pretty strong start, the Draught of Peace getting her out of any uncomfortable situations. But the second week, although slightly less stressful as things were becoming more routine, Charlotte continued to wake up each night from nightmares she had had for as long as she could remember.

It was on a hazy September morning that Charlotte found herself finally finishing her Standard Book of Spells from under her bed covers; she had woken up far too early to get out of bed, but it was already bright outside and so going back to sleep seemed rather unrealistic. She had just finished 'Verdillious' – a spell which sent little green sparks flying from her wand – and was about to close the book for the day when she saw that there was just one page left. She turned the paper to find 'Wingardium Leviosa' was the only spell left. She smiled happily to herself, remembering the first time she had ever witnessed magic; the first time she had used the spell, and how impressed everyone had been. It was with great satisfaction that she put the book away and got up out of bed, making her way to the bathroom to get ready.

Sidcup arrived promptly as Charlotte sat down to breakfast, this time swerving carefully to avoid the different dishes as was his custom ever since the porridge incident. He delivered the usual St Clare's letter, which simply listed the same set of generic instructions, as well as a little scroll of parchment that Charlotte recognised as being very similar to the letter she had received on her first day. Indeed, it was from Professor Snape, requesting her to come and see him during morning break. She wondered why he would want to see her, for she had only just seen him yesterday. Nonetheless, she was always glad to go down into the dungeons and admire all the different potions. Deciding that she would go straight away as soon as the bell sounded after Charms, she decided to get her Ancient Runes homework out of the way now so that she didn't run out of time at break.

During Transfiguration, which was her first lesson, Charlotte learnt how to turn Sidcup into a water goblet with "Vera Verto". It was apparently a spell that most of the students had seen before, and was planned by Professor McGonagall as a quick revision lesson as the first years seemed very out of practice since the summer. For Charlotte it was a first, but she picked it up soon enough. On her first attempt, the goblet seemed to be rather feathery around the bottom and handle. But realising her mistake – she had pronounced the "a" more like "ar"; apparently a common school-boy error – she tried a second time, and produced a perfect clear glass goblet. Each goblet was slightly different according to the characteristics of the animal. McGonagall's had been clear with a black rim and an elegant, thin handle. Jenny, who had a tabby cat, created a distinctly proud and ornate golden goblet that was large and shiny. Charlotte's was understated to say the least. It was smaller than most others, and was purely clear glass. It had no coloured pattern, but little engraving upon the glass which were simplistic but had a pretty effect. She was pleased with what she had made, but rather concerned that she wasn't sure how to get Sidcup back. Luckily, it seemed that none of the students did, for McGonagall stepped down the isle of the classroom assessing each effort, and with a wave of her wand she transformed each animal back as she called out the students' grades. Charlotte received "outstanding", for which she was pleased.

Charms went by quickly as Charlotte listened to the little teacher who spoke most excitably upon his stool at the front of the class. It wasn't long before the bell sounded for break, and Charlotte collected her things very quickly, almost running to the dungeons before the stair cases had time to change.

As she was walking briskly across the corridor, her name was suddenly called out from behind her:

"Hey, Charlotte...what's the rush?" Catherine called out maliciously, still writhing with jealousy from Transfiguration. "The library's that way. You'll be wanting to catch up on all your essays of course. You wouldn't want to disappoint McGonagall," she spoke sarcastically, mimicking Charlotte nastily, making the implication that Charlotte lived purely to impress teachers. That wasn't true, of course, but Charlotte had to admit that it was nice for teachers to appreciate her efforts. She didn't want to have to turn around and look at Catherine, but as she saw a group of her friends surrounding her from every angle she had little choice.

"I think Professor Snape wants me to go see him..." Charlotte said pathetically, wishing she could be confident enough to give an assured explanation.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You're the new potions master's pet aren't you?" Catherine sneered with hatred, envy flowing through her veins. She wasn't nasty by nature, but if this girl thought she could just turn up halfway through school and become the new 'clever-girl' then she had another thing coming. Taking out her wand being careful to make sure that no teachers were present, she shouted "levicorpus" - a spell that was used on her by her older brother during the summer. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to try it out for herself, and she was happy to see the pathetic new girl flung into the air by her ankle.

The ceiling was high, and Charlotte felt herself growing further and further into the air. She began to panic, and tried in vein to remember what she had learnt in DADA about counter-jinxes. Giving in to her feeling of wretched anxiety, she began to cry. She looked down beneath her and saw Catherine laughing coldly as she held her wand out higher and higher. Next to her, to Charlotte surprise, was Jenny. She began to feel sad, before correcting herself; she had no right to feel sad. It was all her fault. Guilt swept through her body and she practically felt her self-esteem drain out of her. She cried and wailed, so much so that a small crowd began to accumulate underneath her.

From the end of the corridor came Professor Snape, whose suspicions had been raised when he saw a swarm of students all running to see what was going on. He guessed as soon as he saw the robes hanging in the air that the victim was Charlotte Bradley. And as he moved further, approaching the crowd, his suspicions were confirmed. He had built rather a strong reputation for being generally strict and bad-tempered throughout the school, but rarely did he feel as monumentally angry as he did now. His mind flashed back to the horrific day when James Potter had had him hanging from his ankles in front of the entire school. A lump in his throat momentarily threatened to take over his ability to stay calm, and an extreme sense of sadness sat at the bottom of his stomach. He usually wasn't one to be empathetic, but he knew the horror of the levicorpus jinx and he wasn't about to let this go lightly. Fury stormed through his mind and as he took out his wand he had to summon up every strength he had to stay professional.

"SILENCE!" He shouted most coldly, instantly having the desired effect on the formulating crowd. Most of the children scurried off on that cue, and Snape allowed them to go unnoticed. He was far more concerned with the group of fourth year Ravenclaws in the middle. He crept up behind Catherine, who was far too scared to turn around, and whispered chillingly down her back, "look...at...me". With her wand still holding Charlotte in the air, she turned her head round and met Snape's dark glare. "You will be in detention with me every break time, for two months. You will scrub cauldrons by hand; write a hundred lines; catalogue every potion in my lab...or suffer my...displeasure. Do I make myself clear?" Snape asked in a tone dripping with anger. Catherine nodded quickly, not daring to even breath. As Snape drew his head back away from her neck, she ran, following her friends who were already hurrying down the corridor.

Immediately, Charlotte began to fall. With his wand still in hand – originally intended for effect rather than practicality – he called out "aresto momentum", stopping the child from an otherwise painful fall. He took Charlotte up by her arm and checked that she was okay. Physically, she appeared to be unharmed. But tears still fell from her cheeks and fear was clear in her grey eyes.

"I-I'm sorry Professor...I didn't mean to..." Charlotte stuttered out her apology, still feeling wracked with guilt no matter how unjustified this was.

"This wasn't your fault, child," Snape said, shocked at the sound of his own voice as he realised how softly he had spoken to the girl. Charlotte liked the way that Snape called her "child" for it made her feel protected. Nevertheless, she wondered why none of the Professors ever called her by her first name.

"But...I deserved it..."

"Why?" Snape asked, wondering if perhaps there was something he didn't know.

"I-I'm the one who came in to the fourth year and ruined everything for the others...it's my fault they're unhappy..." Charlotte said between sobs, feeling utterly awful. Snape rolled his eyes and thought angrily once again about Catherine and her friends. Ravenclaws may be intelligent, but some could most certainly give in to jealousy.

"It's alright, Miss Bradley. You have every right to be here. You are performing well in almost every lesson. That is not something to be sorry for." Charlotte considered this for a while, and nodded in agreement. She could see that it wasn't her fault for being good at potions, plus it was harder for her than it was for them.

"What happens if they try that again?" Charlotte asked with fear in every syllable. She felt completely mortified, but was glad to have someone like Snape to look out for her.

"Then they will have me to deal with. I am your teacher and it is my job to make sure that you are safe, child. Remember that," Snape explained slowly, hoping that the girl understood. She nodded accordingly, and resolved to trust the potions master, who seemed to be genuinely concerned.

She stood up properly and Snape put his wand away. Together they walked to his office, and Snape gave Charlotte the text book he had wanted to give her all along. It was an advanced textbook designed for NEWTs students, but Snape was sure that it would be perfect for Charlotte to read through. She thanked him kindly, still feeling distinctly shaken up. She quickly had time to put the potions book in the Ravenclaw common room before hurrying off to her next lesson, where she sat in the corner of the room away from Catherine and Jenny.


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks for the reviews :)

This chapter isn't that great in my opinion...hence why it had taken quite a long time to finish...

But I hope you like it anyway :D...

Chapter 11 – Hogsmeade and Honey Dukes

Charlotte lay awake in her bed and read through her new potions book with avid interest. It was still dark outside, but it was long since she had first perfected the 'lumos' charm and so light was no longer a problem.

It was a fine mid-September morning, and although it was light outside, most of the girls were asleep – it being a Saturday. Leaves were beginning to fall from the trees around the grounds of Hogwarts, and there was a low fog that settled over the quidditch pitch. Charlotte thought back fondly to her first night in the Ravenclaw dorm, and how confused she had been to see the pitch's high goal rings.

Charlotte had been at the school for three weeks now, and had grown accustom to the various different routines and traditions that Hogwarts followed; one of which was visiting a nearby village every weekend or so. The last few weekends, she had stayed at school, having no money and no one to go with. Besides, there were still a thousand things to explore inside the castle that were surely ten times more interesting than an old village. At least, that's how Charlotte had justified her refusal to leave. In truth, she didn't want to leave Hogwarts for even one second, terrified that perhaps she could never get back again. She knew that this was stupid, but she couldn't help but feel incredibly protective over her new school; the thought of leaving seemed too dreadful to bear thinking about.

It was with this in mind that Charlotte got ready and made her way down to the breakfast table, where only a few other students were eating (most still in bed, or still getting dressed). She was gazing shiftily around the hall, making sure that no one she knew was there. Knowing that she must have looked rather suspicious, she ate quickly, and was just about to leave for the library when she heard a voice call out:

"Just where d'ya think you're going?" It was Filch, the school's caretaker. He had a horrible, pouchy and pasty face and bulging, pale eyes; along with sunken, veined cheeks. He had thin grey hair and quivery jawls, and as he walked his breath wheezed out of his lungs as though he had just ran a mile. Charlotte had decided from the moment she had first seen him that he was someone to avoid, and now was certainly not the time she wanted to be confronted with the man.

"I-I was just..." Charlotte knew that any explanation she gave would be pointless. Filch was fully aware of where she should be going, and was hardly going to accept an excuse. Not wanting to tell Finch the truth about why she didn't want to go into Hogsmeade, she allowed the man to drag her by the shoulder over to the teachers table, where Professor McGonagall was eating breakfast.

"This young lady has decided not ta go ta Hogsmead with the others. Seemed to be in a hurry...thought I'd let ya know..." Filch wheezed out his explanation of what had just happened with extreme satisfaction – always happy to see yet another student in trouble.

"Argus, you know full well that students are not obliged to go to Hogsmead if they would rather stay here. I see no problem in - "

"She was acting suspicious. Though it best to tell ya now before anyone...got into mischief..." Filch interrupted slyly, looking over at the girl who was staring down at the floor most dejectedly. McGonagall was about to protest further, arguing that of course the girl was not about to break any rules, Professor Snape interjected:

"Thank you, Mr. Filch. I will see to it that Charlotte goes to Hogsmeade along with all the other fourth years. Wouldn't want any problems now, would we?" Snape sneered, making eye contact with Filch to show that he understood. Filch was contented at the thought that Snape would be dealing with the situation, and so nodded, walking away with his back arched above his head. As soon as the man was gone, Snape's sneer faded in to a look of concern. As for Charlotte, she was distinctly confused. Knowing that only the other day Snape had promised to look out for her, she couldn't see why he had been so openly nasty in front of all the other members of staff towards her. She didn't want to look up at him, and instead stubbornly fixed her eyes on her shoes. Had she looked at the man, she would have seen that he was no longer sneering; but she didn't.

As the students began to make their way across the grounds and out into the open field which led to Hogsmeade, Snape led Charlotte away from the Great Hall and joined the crowd. Charlotte felt let-down by her Professor, who she thought would have defended her right to stay at Hogwarts. The further she walked away from the school, the more she began to panic. And it wasn't long before she was most paranoid about never getting back. Every few seconds she glanced back at the monumental castle, and attempted to reassure herself that it wouldn't be long until she could return to her safe Ravenclaw common room.

All the while, Snape stared down at the girl, wondering why on Earth she was so nervous to be leaving. He thought perhaps that she was worried about getting lost like when he had flooed with her to Transfiguration, but somehow this didn't seem to be the only explanation. She kept flinging her head round and looking behind her longingly, and Snape could clearly see that she was growing more and more distressed. He hadn't meant to put the girl through any anxiety, but he knew that Filch would have made it far worse for her to stay at Hogwarts all alone. Plus it wasn't going to do the child any good to be away from her classmates. Sighing, he realised that once again it was up to him to reassure the girl, who had a layer of tears in her eyes threatening to roll down her cheeks any second.

"Miss Bradley, is there something the matter?" Snape instantly regretting what he had said, not wanting to sound so harsh or interrogative. The girl resolved to look at the man's feet and refused to speak. "If you don't tell me, child, then I can't help..." continued Snape in a slightly lighter tone.

"Idon'twanttoleaveHogwartsincaseInevergoback," mumbled Charlotte all in one go, almost inaudibly. Snape resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He wanted to make the child repeat her sentence, but felt it unnecessary in the circumstances given that he had been able to understand her.

"Foolish child...Of course you will be going back..." Snape began, thinking carefully about how best to reply, "No one is ever going to make you go back to the muggle world." This seemed to be the perfect response for Charlotte's face instantly lost the pained expression of fear. Admittedly, she was still a little reluctant to leave, but Snape seemed to be someone she could trust, and if he had promised that everything was okay then he was right. Sighing, Snape realised that he had averted yet another incident from the poor girl. He thought about how scared the child was even at the thought of leaving Hogwarts – he could hardly bare to think about why she was so frightened of the muggle world, but if Dumbledore's hints had been right then the girl had every right to be afraid.

"Where would you like to go first?" Snape asked in a rather kind tone considering what he was used to. Charlotte stared back at him with a blank expression. _Stupid question...how would she know?_ Snape told himself off at the idiocy of the question. Of course the child had no idea where they were even going. He fought against his instincts to sarcastically explain which shops were where as though it was obvious, and instead looked directly at Charlotte and said, "well, there's Honeydukes (that's a sweet shop). Then there are the usual repair shops and wand shops – a bit like in Diagon Alley. And there's The Three Broomsticks, of course (that's an Inn – very good butterbeer)." He smiled and waited for Charlotte to say where she would like to go. To his surprise, she merely waited and looked up at him, not knowing what she should say.

"I haven't any money..." She said dejectedly. She hated asking for things, not to mention that in her opinion she didn't deserve anything, let alone sweets and butterbeer. Snape thought about this for a second before very quickly making up his mind:

"Tell me where you would like to go, Miss Bradley, and I will see what I can do," Snape's face lit up momentarily as he spoke, feeling a strangely warm feeling at the thought of giving the student a treat for probably the first time in her life. When Charlotte didn't reply – Snape wasn't surprised of course – he said, "I hear that Honeydukes are particularly popular."

Charlotte only had to smile in appreciation of the potion master's kindness and they were off once more, heading towards the first sweet shop she had ever been to.

Hogsmeade turned out to be a small, picturesque village near to the station where Charlotte had arrived three weeks before. It had been dark, but even so she was surprised at how little she had seen of the village that night. There were tiny little thatched cottages and shops with sign posts protruding from the cobbled walls. It was much smaller that Diagon Alley, but had the same air of being lost in the past – packed with bricks that didn't quite fit and signs that creaked in the wind.

Honeydukes seemed indeed to be very popular. It was packed with Hogwarts students all eager to renew their sweet stashes until next week. There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-coloured toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolate in neat rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavour Beans, and another of Fizzing Whizzbees, the levitating sherbet balls that seemed to follow customers wherever they went. Along yet another wall were 'Special Effects' sweets: Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (which filled a room with bluebell-coloured bubbles that refused to pop for days), the strange, splintery Toothflossing Stringmints, tiny black Pepper Imps ('breathe fire for your friends!'), Ice Mice ('hear your teeth chatter and squeak!'), peppermint creams shaped like toads ('hop realistically in the stomach!') , fragile sugar-spun quills and exploding bonbons. Charlotte found her two eyes most inadequate as she attempted to look in every direction at once.

Snape decided to wait by the door frame of the shop, not wanting to spoil the illusion for the children who all seems totally mesmerized. He knew that having your potions teacher with you while you were trying to look round a sweet shop was not very enjoyable. He smiled a genuine smile as he saw how excited Charlotte was. Her face lit up at every new sight, and she practically jumped with joy as she saw the endless rows of chocolate – apparently her favourite. He was happy in his decision to give the child some money, for he could see how much she deserved it; it appeared as though nothing like this had ever happened to her, which was surely not fair on the poor girl.

Charlotte completely forgot that she wasn't allowed to ask for things, and filled her arms with as much as she could carry, before fighting the crowd to get back to Snape, who was slightly taken aback at the girl's laden bags of sweets. Seeing the look on her professor's face, Charlotte was reminded of everything and soon felt very guilty. Within seconds she had turned on her heels and was about to put her shopping back when Snape called out:

"The counter is this way, Miss Bradley," knowing full well that the girl had felt too culpable to ask. He led her to the counter, where he handed over the galleons almost unthinkingly – for money certainly wasn't a problem for his family – and then gave the bags to Charlotte who was beaming with happiness. Snape wondered why the girl was so reluctant to admit when she wanted something, and why for Merlin's sake had she not been bought sweets before. Once again he found himself very angry at the thought of what her life must have been like with those dreadful muggles, before realising that he was being spoken to:

"Professor..." Charlotte got her teacher's attention timidly,

"Yes, child?"

"Thank you.." Charlotte said, knowing that there was no other way of thanking the man. She blushed with embarrassment, but was happy to see that Snape merely smiled and said that she was welcome.

After a quick drink of butterbeer – still just as refreshing and sweet as Charlotte remembered it to be – the two made their way back to Hogwarts. All the while, Charlotte thought happily about Honeydukes and her new purchases. No one had ever given her a present before, and she certainly didn't expect it from someone who, according to all the other students, was a mean and strict man who didn't have time for anyone other than his Slytherins. She smiled at how wrong the other fourth years were; she liked knowing that Snape was to be trusted, but it was reassuring to think that most people still feared him.

As they entered the Great Hall once more, Charlotte began to make her way to the library. She said goodbye to Snape, who said so in return. He watched the child walk very quickly out of the double doors and into the corridor, before turning to the other side of the room where Dumbledore was standing talking to Madam Sprout.

"Albus...a word?" He said, and on that cue Sprout bade fair well to the two men and shuffled off.

"What is it, my dear man?"

"I hope you don't mind, but I bought Charlotte Bradley some sweets from Honeydukes as a treat...after everything she's been through lately,"

"How very thoughtful of you, Severus. Is that all?" Albus said, eyes twinkling most conspicuously.

"Albus, she seemed very reluctant to go to Hogsmeade today. She was too afraid that I might never allow her to return to Hogwarts. And the other day I saw some of her classmates perform a jinx on her; she seemed very distressed. I wondered if perhaps -

"My dear man, you of all people know what it is like to fall victim to such cruelty," Dumbledore interrupted, raising a hand as though to justify his interjection. "You are doing the right thing." With this, Dumbledore walked off, leaving Severus feeling annoyed to say the least. Albus was right, he did know what it felt like to be bullied by other students, but he certainly didn't know how to look after others who were experiencing the same thing. Angry at himself for not pushing Albus further on the matter, Snape slunked off to his dungeons, pondering Charlotte's case most thoughtfully.


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry it's taken me a while to update.

Again please review/comment if you liked it or want me to make changes, etc.

Hope you like this chapter...

Chapter 12 – Depulso and Potions

It was a late September morning that found Charlotte sitting in her place at the front of the Transfigurations classroom, waving her wand determinedly at a little wooden stool in front of her. Although most of the class were well aware of the "avifors" spell, it was always difficult, and McGonagall had set the task as a revision lesson for the fourth years, who seemed to be somewhat out of practice. Of course, none of them had tried it with anything larger than buttons and eggs, so this was a new challenge for everyone. But especially Charlotte, for she hadn't tried it before at all. It was apparently in the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 (which Snape had given her only a week ago, and she hadn't got to that page yet). Nevertheless she was dead set on perfecting the spell before break, and with not long to go she found herself positively shouting as she waved her wand ferociously at the stool. Catherine – who sat diagonally from her – laughed maliciously to herself, enjoying seeing the new 'clever-girl' struggle. But the smile was quickly wiped off her face as a bright blue bird suddenly swooped into chest and knocked her backwards off her chair. This time, the whole class laughed, and Charlotte stood where the stool had once been looking notably apologetic.

"Very well done, Miss Bradley," remarked Professor McGonagall from her place behind her desk. Her pointed witches' hat glistened a dark green in the crisp morning sunlight, as did her eyes as she smiled at the girl. Catherine looked down at her feet and glared privately; she remembered in her first year how she had been the first to perfect that spell, and how McGonagall had praised her in front of the class.

"How could a mud-blood like you know the spell better than any of _us_?" She asked so that only those immediately surrounding her could hear. Charlotte, being one of these people, felt tears instantly well-up inside her eyes. She wasn't all that sure what a mud-blood was, but she remembered clearly the conversation she had had with Snape about 'muggle-borns' and she had a suspicion that it was something to do with that. McGonagall was unaware of the situation and only realised that there was something amiss when she looked up to find a flock of birds all congregating around the ceiling, and a group of students in the middle of the class room all surrounding Charlotte and Catherine.

"What is the meaning of this?" Minerva asked in a concerned voice. She tried to sound angry, but to no avail, for she was far more afraid that she knew perfectly well what was happening, and she didn't like to think that. Of course, Dumbledore had warned all of Charlotte's teachers that she was somewhat vulnerable to other students' snide remarks, and Minerva had at the time defended the Ravenclaws for not being so nasty. She hated to think that perhaps she had been wrong. She was just about to make Catherine explain herself, when the bell sounded promptly, and Catherine was saved from an otherwise difficult explanation. McGonagall pursed her lips and decided not to pry, for she had enough worries with her own Gryffindors without having to think about Flitwick's pupils as well.

Having received another one of Snape's letters earlier that morning, Charlotte made her way to the dungeons, gathering up her books in her arms and sweeping silently out of the classroom before anyone could see her leave. There was a swarm to get to the doors as the Ravenclaws were desperate to escape McGonagall. The Hufflepuffs – who were the only other students – simply waited for the rest to leave. Charlotte diverted the traffic of children and managed to find herself in an open corridor not far from the dungeons. She was happy now that she knew her way around; at least, she could make her way between classes with ease.

Thoughts of her previous lesson still swam around inside her head. She knew that 'mud-blood' couldn't be something good; that much was certain. It wasn't as though she was awfully surprised – she was of course used to being considered nothing more than a waste of space. In fact, part of her enjoyed being noticed for once, even if it resulted in people not liking her. But nevertheless she couldn't help but feel angry with herself for being so pathetic and useless. She wanted more than anything to just be liked by _someone_. She thought perhaps that it was just what she deserved; after all, she had been rejected her entire life. Why did she think that Hogwarts would be any different?

Before her thinking became too negative, Charlotte shook her head to interrupt her train of thought, reminding herself that Hogwarts was a thousand times better than her muggle life with or without friends.

She was just ambling along the passage way, reading the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 while she was walking, when she finally came to the dungeons. Knowing her way now – and no longer fazed as the Bloody Baron roamed the corridor – Charlotte came to the open door of her potions room, and knocked accordingly.

"Enter," came Snape's familiar call. The room was empty as usual, but for the potions master and the little bottles of potions.

"What are we going to do today, professor?" Charlotte asked, accustom to the routine of things by now. She set down her books and sat down next to her professor, who looked at her and smiled to himself at how small she looked when she was sitting; her feet didn't even reach the floor for the bench was slightly higher than a normal chair.

"Well, Miss Bradley. If you have been looking through the text books I gave you last week then you will already be familiar with the Severing Charm and the Disarming Charm. Is this correct?" Snape began, and Charlotte replied that it was indeed correct. Consequently, she found herself taking out her wand and performing the charms obligingly to the man, who watched with curiosity. He hadn't really expected her to know the spells already, and was amazed to see them carried out almost perfectly in front of him.

"Very well done, Miss Bradley," He couldn't help but say, allowing a smile to grace his face as his wand flew out of his hand moments after the girl had called out "expelliarmus". Deciding that it would be rather pointless re-teaching the child what she already knew, he thought quickly of what he could teach her instead. "Well, seeing as you seem to have covered those already, I will go on to some third year spells that you have missed. How about "accio"?"

On hearing this, Charlotte showed her teacher that she had already learnt this spell, for it had been a footnote in her standard Book of Spells, grade 1 – even if it hadn't been given in great detail, she had been able to work out from the notes and could summon objects pretty easily now.

Snape sighed, "Well then, what about "Depulso"?"

"I don't know that one," Charlotte replied honestly.

"Very well then, Miss Bradley. Let us begin," And with that, Snape went on to teach Charlotte the Banishing charm using an old quill. By the end of break, Charlotte was casting the spell with ease. She swished her wand, and spoke the words clearly, and then with a flash of white light the feather was banished. It was very satisfying to see the empty space where the object had once been, and Charlotte thought to herself how useful this would have been when she was living with her Aunt and Uncle. The amount of time she had spent tidying up after them could have definitely been less with the use of magic.

Snape looked happily at the child, before a curious expression took over and he began to frown slightly. He was glad that the girl was taking to magic so quickly, but he couldn't understand how she was so determined or focussed. Most children her age would have taken one look at the thick text book and flung it to one side, only to pick it up again at the very last minute. Charlotte seemed to live to please, and whilst this made a pleasant change from most of the dunder-heands he usually taught, it could hardly go unnoticed.

Thinking tactfully, Snape said in an offhand tone: "Miss Bradley, your memory is very impressive."

As he had hoped, the girl took this statement as a question and was willing to explain: "Over the years you tend to pick these things up. If I didn't remember anything then I would get in to trouble, so it makes sense to just remember everything I am told and anything I read. That way I can't be punished..." Charlotte trailed off towards the end, realising what she had said. She immediately bit her lip and looked at the ground, regretting saying anything – she wanted to just forget that her muggle life ever existed; the last thing she needed was half the school knowing about it. Snape noticed her sudden change in behaviour and understood completely. He was glad that the girl had told him what she did, but knew that asking any more would be pushing her too far. Instead, she met her eye reassuringly, and walked towards the door showing that she was allowed to leave. Charlotte thought to herself that she would much rather stay in the dungeons and learn more charms than have a whole hour of Herbology, but she said nothing. At least she had Potions after that.

As the girl left Snape found himself feeling slightly unusual. His mind was awash with feelings of concern and outrage, and more than anything a desire to help. This was most contrary to how he normally felt – except perhaps the outrage part – but nevertheless he accepted that this girl was different. She may not be perfect; far from it. She was sensitive and vulnerable, and hopeless at flying. She could only perform defence spells when in the comfort of her well-known potions classroom, and she couldn't stick up for herself if her life depended on it. Despite all this, her ability to learn was astounding, not to mention her remarkably gifted ability to create potions. Considering these things, and combined with her amiably timid and polite personality, Snape decided that he wanted to help Charlotte.

As he went back to his desk to prepare for his next lesson (which wasn't for another hour) he thought about what the girl had accidentally told him. It seemed rather tragic to think that she felt the need to remember everything in order to avoid punishment. He wanted to tell her that she needn't worry about ever being punished again, but he knew that her acute memory was useful to her and he didn't want her to think she'd done anything wrong.

His train of thought continued for a long time, and before he knew it there was a crowd of fourth year students accumulating outside his classroom just seconds after the bell sounded. He saw Charlotte amongst the crowd, alongside Catherine and Jenny who were whispering fiercely to themselves. Letting the children in – and rolling his eyes at the noise they were making – he waved his wand at the cauldrons by each desk, filling them with base potion as usual.

With little explanation and more that a little sarcasm, he let the children get on with making the Girding Potion. Upon Charlotte's desk were a bunch of impeccably arranged ingredients: Fairy wings, Doxy eggs, Dragonfly Thoraxes and three flying seahorses. She had to admit that these did seem slightly bizarre, but she resolved to treat them the same way as she would treat the more 'normal' ingredients, so as to keep to her high standard.

It was about halfway through the lesson when Professor Snape noticed that something was amiss. Unlike usual, Charlotte had her head on the table and her hair was flung over her face in a way that suggested that she was far from excited about making the potion. Upon close inspection, he realised that the girl was not so much uninterested, as not even awake. He frowned curiously, and fought against his instincts to start shouting at her.

Considering that she had woken up every night for the past month, it was only to be expected. Charlotte's nightmares had been regular her whole life, but with dorm life and the excitement of a new school, she was even more exhausted than usual. Often when she had been living with the muggles she had fallen asleep while doing the laundry, or cleaning, not to mention many times at school. Once she had even fallen asleep unknowingly leaving cake in the oven. After a punishment she wasn't likely to forget any time soon, she had learnt to stay awake during the day. But despite this Hogwarts had made her so tired she couldn't help it. Snape didn't know any of this of course, and was offended at the thought that perhaps the girl was just bored with his lesson.

"Miss Bradley...what is the meaning of this?" Snape asked, flashing a bright light with his wand and causing her to wake up. "I trust this lesson isn't too...tedious, for you?" he asked coldly, his lips curling as he spoke. She may have been top of the class but Snape certainly wasn't going to make allowances for bad behaviour.

"I-I was just..." Charlotte's head bowed and she looked at her Professor's feet. She was exhausted and stunned by being so abruptly woken up; and the embarrassment of waking up in front of the entire class was just too much. Tears began to fill her eyes and roll down her cheeks, dropping quietly on the floor beneath her. Snape saw this and regretting being so harsh on the child. _Of course there is probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. The child would never misbehave _Snape thought angrily to himself as he adjusted his robes to protect the girl from being seen by every class member. Despite his efforts most of the Ravenclaws could still see.

"I think she's been having nightmares, Professor. She had woken up most nights," Piped up Jenny from her seat at the front. She felt very bad for how nasty her friend was being to the new-girl, and thought that the least she could do was save Charlotte from having to explain herself.

Snape looked sadly at the child before him. She had wiped the tears from her face now, but was still staring stubbornly at the ground. He thought himself stupid for not realising before, and promised himself to find a way to help.

"Miss Bradley, you are not in trouble, don't worry," he said quietly so that no one else could hear. Knowing better than to eavesdrop, the other class members continued with their work and left Snape to deal with the new girl in private.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Charlotte said dejectedly, sincerely honest in her apology. Snape said that no apology was necessary, but he appreciated the girl's politeness anyway. Resolving to leave the girl for now and think of a plan later, the potions master headed back to the front of the class and left Charlotte to continue preparing the Girding Potion. As always, by the end of the hour Charlotte had a perfectly made – this time glistening green – potion at the bottom of her cauldron. She was awarded "Outstanding", and left the room having almost forgotten her sadness.


	13. Chapter 13

Hi – thanks so so much for the reviews :)

I feel like I should justify this chapter – this story isn't very chronologically accurate as you can probably tell. I am not really going to include Voldemort or Harry or any of the war in this story. So you could say that it is set inbetween the two wars when nothing much was happening :D However, I had to choose a DADA teacher and for me there's really only one choice: Lupin. Who is probably the best teacher ever after Snape in my opinion. So yeah...not exactly accurate, but hey :P

Let me know what you think...

Chapter 13 – Only Boggarts

Just three days after the lesson in which Charlotte had fallen asleep, the first day of October came around and the event was forgotten by most.

It was cold in the Ravenclaw dormitory and Charlotte had two quilts laying on top of her to keep her warm at night. On this particular morning – a cold misty Friday – Charlotte was woken by a pecking at her ear. The reason for the cold was quickly identified as she noticed the open window, beside which stood Sidcup looking more than usually dishevelled and not a little disgruntled.

With sleep still in her eyes (a rare night during which she had not woken up) Charlotte closed the window and ushered the small owl onto her bed, before stroking its wings softly and asking what the matter was. Sidcup desperately tried to lift a wing to show his owner its injury, but was unable to for the pain shot through his tiny little body and rendered the wing useless. It was a wonder that he had even managed to fly up to the window, Charlotte thought as she examined the wing closely.

In the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2, there had been little mention of a healing charm. And even though she had all her other text books with her that would surely include something a long the lines of healing wounds, she didn't want to risk getting the spell wrong and causing even more damage. Not to mention that it was probably against school rules.

Deciding quickly on the best course of action, Charlotte got up and threw her uniform on, before scooping up the bird in her arm and running down to the dungeons – which were almost completely deserted for it was still quite early. To her surprise, Professor Snape was already awake and sitting at his desk in his classroom, no doubt preparing for his next lesson. He looked up as Charlotte came to stand in the doorway, realising that he had company before the child even had time to knock. He was more than used to hearing her footsteps tip-toeing along the stone floor by now.

"Miss Bradley, I trust you are aware of the time?" Snape asked, refraining from more obtusely saying _"Why for Merlin's sake are you up this early?!" _

"Sorry Professor, Sidcup is injured," Charlotte said quietly by way of an explanation. She had come to Snape for he was probably the only teacher that she felt comfortable with at this time of day – not wanting to explain to McGonagall why she couldn't have waited until everyone else got up. Nevertheless, she was still rather embarrassed.

"Let me see..." Snape said, resolving to help despite his annoyance. He had deliberately woken early to avoid being bothered, but he had to admit that this was something slightly more urgent than marking first years' essays. He took one look at the wing before feeling his heart sink. Undoubtedly it was the work of magic – most likely one of the latest jinxes the fourth years had learnt. Snape was reluctant to admit to himself that it was almost definitely cast by one of Charlotte's classmates – probably Catherine, although he didn't say anything. He knew that he was right, but the child didn't need to know that.

Saying nothing, Snape reached for a bottle of Healing Potion and poured it over the owl's wing. Charlotte saw the skin instantly heal around it, leaving a clump of congealed blood where the wound had once been. He then poured some pain relief potion down the bird's chirping beak, and finished off with a quick cleaning charm cast with a single wave of his wand. Still saying nothing, he then shoved the bird back into Charlotte's arms and turned back to his desk.

Charlotte was confused as to why the potions master was acting to hostile, when he usually liked it when she came down to the dungeons to see him. She thought perhaps that she had done something wrong, and her faced showed this. In truth, Snape's mind had been far too pre-occupied. He didn't want the girl to know his concerns, and so decided that it was better not to say anything than to lie. Nonetheless, he could see that this approach was probably too harsh on the child, who was obviously far too sensitive to rationalise beyond her own lack of self-esteem. He smiled at the girl who was still standing by the door, and said reassuringly:

"He'll be alright now, child. I will see you after school for another lesson." Snape was satisfied that the girl would be okay, for she smiled in return and headed back out of the classroom. His face sunk as soon as she left and he was able to think alone about how nasty the other children were being to Charlotte. He couldn't help but feel that if she could just stick up for herself then none of this would be happening.

Remembering Snape's words, Charlotte let Sidcup go off to the owlry, and the rest of her morning proved to be somewhat uneventful. It was often that Herbology and A History of Magic were uneventful, but this morning seemed remarkably so. In fact, it wasn't until after lunch that Charlotte seemed to do anything other than make notes and read textbooks.

After a quick lunch of ham sandwiches, crisps, and a fruit salad (alongside pumpkin juice of course), Charlotte made her way to what was probably her least favourite lesson of all: Defence Against the Dark Arts. This lesson was shared with the fourth year Gryffindors, who were almost invariably insufferable in their bravery during these lessons. Compared to Charlotte, there was no contest.

She entered the classroom along with the rest of her class and stood at the back of the room where Professor Lupin was gesturing for them to congregate. Remus Lupid was a kind looking man. He wore a tweed jacket and distinctly shabby looking robes that were patched in different places. His face was lined with wrinkles and scars alike, even though he was probably well under 50. His eyes were green and dark, but twinkled whenever he smiled – which seemed to be almost all of the time. He had a brown (turning grey) moustache and similarly coloured hair that flopped beside his ears. He didn't look smart in the slightest, but he certainly seemed jolly. More than anything, he was passionate about his subject, and understood each of his students well. And as such he observed very closely the expression of terror on Charlotte's face as she took one look at the arrangement of his lesson. The room was almost empty in the middle, but for a rattling wardrobe; Remus knew how this could seem rather disconcerting for someone who was used to treating anything new as scary.

Charlotte stood with her eyes fixed on the wardrobe. She feared that there could be a werewolf – not knowing how ironic her fears were – or a troll or some equally terrifying monster in there. And when she heard that today's lesson would be all about boggarts, her anxiety did not subside. While she had never seen a boggart before, she understood the concept from her textbooks that Snape had given her, and the thought of facing one of her worst nightmares in front of the whole class was more than she could bear.

The lesson was focussed on the spell 'Riddikulus', which in itself was easy enough. For the first few minutes the class were told to get into pares and practice the spell theoretically – waving their wand and such, but not actually casting the spell. Charlotte pared with a Gryffindor boy names Ben who like her was often left last when the class were asked to find a partner. When the ten minutes were up, Charlotte had the technique spot on. At least, she thought she did – that was all very well, but until she tried it out on something she couldn't know for sure.

The class lined up one after the other in front of the wardrobe; there was a disorganised struggle to not be the first person in the line, but eventually Remus got tired of waiting and dictated who should go first: a girl called Jane from Gryffindor.

Jane – a brown haired girl with freckles and glasses – stood up to the mark where Professor Lupin had told her to stand. She took out her wand accordingly, and waited for the teacher to open the wardrobe. Before Charlotte had time to see the boggart's true appearance, out came a man dressed as a clown, with a red balloon and a painted, fixed smile that didn't seem to match the eyes. The clown had a menacing grin despite the face-paint, and as he looked at the students he began to laugh a sinister, spine-chilling laugh that had the opposite effect to what clowns should be like. The look on Jane's face was one of terror. Seeing the clown reminded her of a toy her Great Grandmother had bought her when she was only a baby. The memory of waking up and seeing the grinning face at the end of her bed in the middle of her pitch-black nursery still haunted her to this day; it was no wonder that the boggart had chosen a clown to turn into. Nevertheless, Jane hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor for no reason. Forcing herself to be brave, the girl pointed her wand at the clown and shouted 'Riddikulus'! In a flash, the clown was juggling and trying desperately to balance on top of a uni-cycle, which was evidently a challenge. Judging by the look on the clown's face, it was no longer in the mood for terrorizing the pupils. Instead – still wobbling precariously in all directions – it turned on the uni-cycle and rode back into the wardrobe, looking utterly defeated.

The class laughed, and Jane relaxed. Charlotte however was still petrified and it was all she could do to smile weakly at the rest of the class. Lupin noticed this, but decided not to do anything for the time being. He was curious to see whether the girl could do it if she really had enough incentive to – but he knew that this was a risky strategy and was standing by ready to intervene if necessary.

Next was Catherine. Unsurprisingly, as soon as she stepped up to the front out came Professor McGonagall holding an essay paper with the word 'Troll' written at the top in red ink. Catherine almost cried as she saw this, and quickly shouted 'Riddikulus', causing the piece of paper to float out of McGonagall's hand. The boggart jumped up and tried to grab the paper, looking most ridiculous. Satisfied, Catherine stepped away and Lupid got the boggart back into the wardrobe, sighing at the thought that getting a 'Troll' was really the girl's worst fear. _What an easy life she must lead_ he thought to himself, before the next child walked up.

One by one the line got shorter. There were spiders and snakes and bats and rats; thunder storms, monsters – even Norris, Filch's cat. The room was a constant noise of laughter and applause as each student faced their fears one by one. However, as it came to Charlotte all went quiet, for she somehow looked even more frightened than everybody else.

"Come now, Miss Bradley. It won't hurt you...just stand here..." Lupin said gently, trying to usher the girl to the front. She stayed put however, eyes still fixed on the rattling doors. Charlotte thought of all the possible things the boggart could turn into: A spider; the dark; her headmistress from her old school; the shop keeper from the owl shop in Diagon Alley. Although those things did scare her, she knew it wouldn't be any of them. For a fleeting moment she thought that the boggart would maybe turn into Catherine – which would certainly be mortifying – but she dismissed that thought as another came in to her head. She realised then that she knew exactly what it was going to turn in to, and she was utterly terrified.

Realising that she could just stand there, she stepped up and forced herself to think of the first time she had met the Bloody Baron, hoping that maybe she could trick the boggart into getting it wrong. Her plan quickly fell flat, however, as the wardrobe door opened slowly and an all too familiar object became visible from inside.

Standing before her was a middle-aged man with a greasy white vest and baggy jeans. The jeans were falling dangerously low from his waste, for his belt was held high in the air in his large, strong hand. He was a large man, and looked as though he could crush Charlotte in his fist in a second. The belt was swinging unsafely over the girl's head – who looked so small and vulnerable in front of the man that Lupin found it hard not to intervene there and then.

Not long after, the man was joined by an equally ugly looking woman. She was wearing a low cut top that looked as though it belonged to someone ten years younger than her, and her jeans were so tight that a red mark was visible round her waste from where the material dug into her skin. Her hair had been artificially bleached and curled. She had a Martini in her hand, and was slopping the liquid everywhere as she stumbled out of the wardrobe and joined her husband. Both adults smelt strongly of alcohol. The woman was laughing horribly; the man was silent but for low, growling breaths. It was saying something that he managed to even breath menacingly as he continued to swing his belt round and round above his niece's head.

Charlotte knew they were just boggarts, but every part of her body was telling her otherwise. She began to whimper, and was only refraining from crying because she knew that made the punishments worse.

"I'm sorry...whatever I've done, I didn't mean to.." Charlotte began to say desperately, knowing that she had broken almost every rule her aunt and uncle had given her over the past month. Not to mention the fact that it was her fault they were in trouble with social services. If it wasn't for her PE teacher noticing the bruises on her back they would still have their little slave to pander to their every need. The boggart didn't say anything in response, for of course it wasn't real. The woman kept laughing and the man kept growling; Charlotte kept apologising and was almost screaming in front of the whole class as she begged her uncle not to hurt her.

"Miss Bradley...you know the spell. Come on now, I know you can do it..." Lupin said above the noise. The children had all started giggling and whispering at the pathetic new-girl's display. For Lupin's part he was heart-broken. It was always a risky lesson-plan, but if he had had any idea that this would happen then he wouldn't have made the girl do it in front of her classmates.

"R-r...ridiculous..." Charlotte choked out, trying to summon up what little bravery she had. As she waved her wand, nothing happened, and this only served to make Charlotte more and more panicked. Without even trying to say the spell properly, Charlotte just repeated the same word over and over, frantically waving her wand in all different directions at the boggart, wanting nothing more than to run away.

Eventually, Lupin decided that it would be best to just put the girl out of her misery. He knew that it wouldn't do the child's self-esteem much good, but then traumatising her certainly wouldn't either. Almost inconspicuously, he came and stood right next to Charlotte and said "Riddikulus". In a second, the woman was stood wearing a greay white vest and jeans that were about 5 sizes too big. The man was standing in a top that was ripped at the seams and barely covered a quarter of his body. As for the trousers, you could barely tell they had ever been jeans at all, for the only material left had fallen to the floor and each stitch had burst open from the weight of the man's bulging legs. Both looked distinctly embarrassed, and quickly shuffled off back into the wardrobe, leaving Charlotte to chokingly gasp in relief that her teacher had helped.

Without so much as looking at anyone, she ran out of the classroom, allowing the tears to run down her cheeks – finally allowing herself to cry now that she knew her aunt and uncle couldn't punish her. Noticing the time, Lupin decided to dismiss his class early (for the bell would be sounding in a few minutes anyway) and didn't even wait for the students to leave before running after the girl.

"Miss Bradley, wait!" He called, seeing the child stop in the middle of the corridor and collapse on her knees. "It's alright. It was only a boggart,"

"I-I want to see Professor Snape..." Charlotte said miserably, allowing herself to just act how she felt.

"I know child. Here, let me take you," Lupin said kindly, not liking the idea of letting Charlotte try to get there on her own in this state. He reached for the girl's arm and steadied her, before making his was slowly to the dungeons. The smell of potions instantly reassured the girl, who felt safe as they got closer to the potion master's chambers. The dungeons tended to have the opposite effect on Remus who was reminded of his condition every time he saw the potions professor. Nevertheless, his mind was set on helping the girl; he had no time to think about himself.

Knocking on the door to Severus' chambers, he smiled at the girl to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Charlotte wasn't sure if she trusted the man completely, but nonetheless it was a kind gesture.

"Remus, what is the meaning of...Miss Bradley, what's happened?" Snape began in a sneer before he saw Charlotte, who was barely visible in her dark school robes against the dim lighting on the dungeons.

"My aunt and uncle...boggarts...riddikulus...Professor Lupin...I couldn't..." Charlotte stuttered out, not knowing what to explain first. A month ago Snape would have corrected Charlotte for her poor articulation during her explanation, but he knew better than to do so now. Instead, he managed to piece together what the girl was trying to tell him and held his arm out for the girl to come and stand by him. She did so gratefully, feeling safe as she clung to the sweeping black robes that smelled sweetly of potions.

Lupin watched in surprise as he saw how comfortable the girl was in front of Snape, as did Snape himself. Most students feared the man, and even Snape had to admit that he was shocked to see a student _want_ to stand next to him. Whereas Lupin was concerned that maybe Charlotte had got the wrong end of the stick, Snape was happy that she girl felt safe in his presence. Lupin thought about what Dumbledore had told him and was ready to accept that maybe Snape was the best person to be dealing with the girl. So with this thought in mind, he simply nodded to Severus as thanks, and walked off feeling happy that Snape was finally showing a different aspect of his personality.

Snape was somewhat angry with the wolf for ever thinking that the boggart lesson was appropriate for Charlotte, but remained calm in front of the girl who was still whimpering softly by his side.

"Come now, child. It's alright. I promise that your Aunt and Uncle will never harm you again. You must trust me..."

"Yes sir," Charlotte replied weakly, feeling exhausted from her ordeal. Snape recognised this and decided that he would talk to the girl about what happened later. For now what she needed was a good night's sleep – especially after what had happened in his lesson the other day.

"Miss Bradley, would you like me to take you back to your dormitory, or would you prefer to spend the night here?" Snape asked, thinking that he already knew the answer,

"Here, please..." Charlotte said so quietly that Snape barely heard. He took the girl over to the spare bedroom he had in his chambers and called for his house-elf to prepare the bed for her. He then summoned up Charlotte's pyjamas and gave the girl some privacy while she got changed. Charlotte didn't want her Professor to leave her for even a second, and so got dressed very quickly and told him to come back in.

Snape looked at the child and realised that he would have to do more than just leave her with the house-elf. Sighing, he tucked her into the bed covers and brushed her hair away from her face – which was still wet from tears.

"Foolish child," He said affectionately, wondering how on Merlin's Earth Dumbledore expected him to help her, "Don't worry, now. No one can hurt you. Get some rest..."

Charlotte enjoyed being comforted, and wished more than anything that she had had someone like Snape all those nights before when she had felt so alone. She allowed herself to give in to tiredness, and felt her heavy eyelids close.

Snape waited until he was sure the girl was asleep, before going in to his own room and shutting the door, being careful to put a protecting charm across the entire chamber. He knew that no harm would come to the girl anyway, but he had promised to keep her safe and it somehow seemed like the right thing to do.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey so here's the next chapter...a.k.a. Another edition to my procrastination...

Sorry it's taken a while to update. I am going to aim to update two or three times a week from now on :) Thanks so much for reviews!

Anyway, enjoy...

Chapter 14 – Promises

_She was running, faster and faster as the wardrobe got steadily closer. The doors were rattling, louder; louder than ever. He was chasing her, and approaching ever closer. She knew she hadn't a chance. Jump. She jumped across the rooftops and out into the street. The floor beneath her swayed and the walls closed in. Trapped. He came closer. Closer. The belt was swinging high above his head. She could see her Professor running; he wasn't going to make it. Time was running out, faster; faster he ran. She could hear the laughter of the woman getting higher; louder._

Charlotte was tossing and turning in her bed, whimpering and shouting as the images in her head tormented her. Memories of her childhood mixed with her experiences of the day before. She wanted Snape more than anything. When she was little her dreams had featured her parents running after her, trying to save her. After years of nothing but misery at the hands of her Aunt and Uncle, Charlotte had learnt to stop hoping. For the last few years, no one in her nightmares ever saved her. Until now, for she felt somewhat protected in her Professor's chambers, and she knew that he would keep her safe.

This time it was Snape who woke with a start. Charlotte's cries could be heard through the crack in the door that divided the two bedrooms. He wasn't used to being woken up, but the sound of the girl's desperation was hard to ignore. So quickly finding his robes to fling around his pyjamas (after all, he was the girl's teacher), he entered the spare bedroom and walked briskly over to the bed, surprised to find that the girl was still asleep. He wasn't sure what to do as he saw the child struggle against the nightmare she was having, but knew that he would have to do something.

Crouching beside the bed, he held out his hand and shook the girl's shoulder gently, saying:

"Wake up for me, child...It's just a dream, wake up now." This had the desired effect for the girls eyes began to blink look around the room. Still she was shaking and breathing heavily, and whimpering strangely in a way that told Snape that she was still half asleep. He moved up to perch on the end of the mattress of the bed, and put his arm right round the girl to make her feel safe. In her dream-like state Charlotte allowed the robes to fall over her face and didn't even respond to being openly hugged by her teacher. Snape knew that Charlotte needed to be comforted, but would probably have been too shy to accept his act of affection had she been more awake.

Curious to know what was going on in the tiny girl's head, he looked deep into her grey eyes and legilimised her gently. What he saw was enough to explain everything:

_A large ugly man was standing with his belt held high about to beat the girl mercilessly. A drunken woman was falling about the place and laughing at the child's pain. All around him was fragmented parts of Charlotte's past; old streets, sign posts, and even parts of her house. As the dream shifted Snape saw why the Aunt and Uncle were apparently angry. In a frying pan on top of the hob of a muggle oven lay four burnt sausages, still sizzling in the melted butter. As he looked further he saw a stool by the oven that the girl had obviously used once in order to reach the hob. She must have been very young that day; no wonder she couldn't cook sausages properly. The dream shifted again and Snape was stood back outside in a nearby street, the Uncle waving his belt ferociously towards the girl. He was coming dangerously close to hitting her, and the Aunt's laughter became more erratic with every swing. All too soon, the mettle buckle hit the helpless child's skin and she screamed. Snape could barely see for tears glazed his eyes and warped the light from every angle._ Having seen more that enough, he let go and was sitting back on the mattress of his spare bedroom.

"It's alright...It's okay...You're safe..." Comforted Snape, still shaken up himself from what he had just seen. "That's it child, just sleep now," He said softly as he gently laid Charlotte's head back down on the pillow and watched her fall into a much more relaxed sleep. Feeling that the girl would probably be alright now until morning, he heading back to his own room for some much needed rest.

The next morning, Snape woke up to the sound of Charlotte whispering spells from her bedroom – she had tried not to wake Snape, but the door was everything but sound proof and the potions master had the hearing of a cat. Severus smiled at the thought of how different Charlotte was after a good night's sleep, and he was glad that her mind was no longer occupied with her dreadful muggle relatives.

Deciding that it would be best to see the girl in a few minutes once he was fully washed and dressed, he went into the bathroom and got ready. Just moments later, he was standing in his jet black robes; hair still greasy even though he had only just washed it.

"Good morning, Miss Bradley," He said in his usual thin voice. Unlike most students, Charlotte liked this, for she always found overly-confident and loud people far too stressful to be around.

"Morning, Professor," She said happily in reply, wanting to know whether it would be alright if she got some breakfast soon, for she hadn't had anything to eat the night before and her stomach was growling in objection. Snape looked over at the girl, who was already washed and dressed, and apparently ready to go to the Great Hall. It being a Saturday, Snape had no problem with allowing the girl to leave and get on with whatever she wanted to do.

"If you would like to go to breakfast now, you may," He instructed, subtly taking away the protecting charm that he luckily hadn't needed. "However I would like you to come and see me at 11am, if that's alright." Charlotte replied that it would be fine, although Snape noticed that the girl's voice trailed off slightly and a slight look of disappointment came over her eyes. "Would you like me to walk with you to the Great Hall?" Snape decided to ask, not knowing if this was what the child wanted or not. Apparently he had got it spot on, for Charlotte instantly relaxed with these words, before sheepishly nodding in the positive – suddenly embarrassed at how reluctant she was to go anywhere alone.

The Great Hall was unsurprisingly packed with students, for it was raining heavily outside (as shown from the ceiling of the hall). Snape led Charlotte over to the Ravenclaw table, before telling her that he would be waiting in his office at the arranged time. Leaving Charlotte with a quiet Ravenclaw boy of the same age (being the shyest children in the entire school, they seemed to get on rather well), Snape swept his robes to one side and made his way to the teachers' table, where Minerva and Filius and Albus were all sitting.

"Would you like some toast?" Asked the Ravenclaw boy. His name was Alfonso, and he was of Italian origin. His parents were well known in Italy as a wizarding music duo, and he had practically begged them to be allowed to go to Hogwarts instead of the Italian school to avoid the consequences of being the son of famous people. Charlotte sympathised, for she knew what it was like for people to ask unwanted questions about her personal life. Charlotte said yes to the toast, once again realising how hungry she was, before the two started talking about Sidcup – for news had got round that someone was going around jinxing owls. Charlotte didn't like the idea that it had been someone's deliberate actions – she had rather innocently assumed it was an accident – but talking to Alfonso with his thick Italian accent somehow made her forget her anger, and she was happy to talk to someone her age who wasn't jealous of her.

Snape sat down at his usual place and picked at his plate of food, although he wasn't at all hungry. His mind was still filled with what he had seen the night before, plus he knew that he would have to talk to Remus sooner or later about the Boggart lesson. Right on cue, Professor Lupin came hurrying along the passage in the middle of the Great Hall to join the teachers at their breakfast table, and (rather unusually given his normal custom of avoiding the wolf wherever possible) Snape drew back a chair for Lupin to sit on right next to him. The DADA professor was a little taken aback, but nevertheless accepted his place next to the head of slytherin, knowing that there was probably an underlying reason for this.

"Remus, a word if I may?" Snape asked coldly, saying "if I may" as though Remus would be a fool not to oblige.

"Of course Severus, anything at all," Replied Lupin with more enthusiasm that he felt.

"I wanted to talk to you about Charlotte Bradley and your lesson yesterday. Do you want the girl to be traumatised?"

"Not at all Severus," Remus began defensively, not liking the implication that he had knowingly risked the girl's health, "I wanted her to prove to herself that she could face her fears. She always seems so afraid. Had I known it was anything to do with...that, then I wouldn't have made her do it. You know that."

Snape thought for a while; he had forgotten that most of the other teachers (except for McGonagall and Flitwick) didn't know about Charlotte's past. In fact, thinking further, Dumbledore had only ever hinted as much even to them. He wouldn't have been surprised if all Dumbledore had told Remus was that Charlotte was a little bit shy and obviously new to the wizarding world. His forehead burrowed into a frown that told Lupin he was deep in thought.

"Listen, Severus...whatever happened yesterday, I didn't mean it to. I am deeply sorry if I have caused the child any further problems. If there's anything I can do..."

"No, no, Remus," Snape interjected, seeing that this conversation was going nowhere, "I understand. You weren't to know." With that, Snape stood once more and left, leaving the DADA professor looking somewhat perturbed.

Thoroughly annoyed – as he always was after having to endure a conversation with 'moony' – Severus made his way back to the dungeons and began to restock his potions lab – having run out of healing potion from the incident with Sidcup.

Charlotte and Alfonso decided to go back to the Ravenclaw dormitory, and Alfonso taught her how to play wizard chess. Luckily, it was much like muggle chess, only the characters moved on their own, and the whole game was much more violent. They were having a fairly good time, when one of Alfonso's friends came and asked if he would like to play Quidditch out on the school grounds. Charlotte didn't mind, however, for she had an unfinished Ancient Runes assignment and got to work accordingly as the boys left. It wasn't long before two hours passed by, and before she knew it it was 11am.

Ignoring the calls from her classmates saying things like "You do know the library's that way!" in a sarcastic tone, she gathered up her parchment and left in the direction of the dungeons, looking forward to seeing Professor Snape again.

She didn't knock this time, for Snape had come to greet her at the door having heard her footsteps along the stone floor. He led them to his chambers, where they sat opposite each other on two black yellow sofas. The fireplace was lit beside them, burning bright green flames that lit up the room. Having been at Hogwarts a month, Charlotte was surprised at how amazed she still was when she saw things like this.

"Now, Miss Bradley. I want to talk to you about yesterday, if I may," As Snape said this Charlotte's heart sunk. She had feared that this would be what Snape had wanted her for. Her thoughts began to race, and she was afraid that trusting the man had been a bad idea. What if Snape had heard her having a bad dream? What if he sent her away from Hogwarts?

"Yes, Professor," Charlotte said quietly, looking at her feet as she always did when confronted with a distressing situation. Snape was exasperated; they hadn't even started talking yet and already the girl was getting nervous. He though very tactfully for a second, before saying:

"Did you sleep well, child?" He spoke in a soft and gentle voice to let the child know that he meant no harm. Charlotte allowed herself to be reassured, but thought better than to let her guard down.

"Yes, Professor," She lied, remembering the dream distinctly.

"Don't lie to me, child," was Snape's reply, rather more sinister than he had meant to be. Charlotte gasped and choked at his words, and couldn't stop the tears from creeping into her eyes. Snape saw this and decided to re-phrase what he had said. "You can trust me..."

"I just had a bad dream, that's all," Charlotte said, hoping that would be the end of it. It was strictly forbidden for her to tell anyone anything about her home life. Her Uncle had promised that if she did, he would find her.

"Miss Bradley...do you know what Legilimising is?" Snape asked slowly,

"Yes, Professor," Charlotte said again, repeating herself for the third time. She began to guess where this conversation was going and didn't like the thought one bit.

"I hope you will understand that as your teacher it is my job to help you," Charlotte nodded at this to show that she did indeed understand, and Snape continued, "I saw your nightmare last night. And I want you to know that it's not your fault. I am here to help you, child. I promise..."

If Snape said anything more then Charlotte didn't hear, for she was already wailing frantically, and hyperventilating so rapidly that it was all she could do to collapse on the sofa and scream.

"Don't let them hurt me! Don't take me away from Hogwarts!" She choked amongst screams. She sounded as though she was in physical pain as she cried; stopping only for breaths which were short and erratic.

"Calm yourself, child!" Snape tried to comfort her, "It's alright...Hogwarts is probably the safest place on Earth...no one will ever hurt you again. I'm here...it's okay," Snape soothed, saying practically everything under the sun in order to calm the girl down. Eventually, her cries subsided and she allowed Snape to card his fingers through her hair, brushing it away from her panic-stricken face. Snape realised that he would have to keep all of the promises he was making, but he could think about that later. For now, he allowed the tiny little girl to rest her head in his robes and calm down.

He comforted the Child for another ten minutes, before slowly removing his arm from her head. She whimpered softly as he moved, but as he shushed her soothingly she allowed him to stand up.

The Professor decided that it would be a good idea for Charlotte to spend the rest of the day in his chambers away from potential causes of panic. So, giving the girl a copy of Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 – always something Charlotte enjoyed – he told her to make herself at home and go through the textbook. He then walked off to Dumbledore's office to explain what had just happened, stopping a house-elf along the way to arrange lunch for the girl.


	15. Chapter 15

Hey :) I feel quite bad with how much I am torturing my OC lol :) Ahh...what can I say? It's just too much fun to write – plus I get to make Snape caring which is always good :D Talking of Snape being caring, this does get a little sentimental towards the end but yeah I wanted to show that Snape is becoming nicer because of Charlotte.

Anyhow, please review, thanks...:D

Chapter 15 – Montmorency and the Shrieking Shack

The next couple of weeks passed by much the same; there was a general lull in excitement throughout the school as the daily grind was becoming somewhat mundane even to the first years. However, with Snape looking out for her, Charlotte enjoyed the two weeks for what they were – stress-free and relaxing.

It was on a mid-October Sunday that Charlotte was making her way to Hogsmead to stock up on her stash of sweets. As he did every fortnight, Snape had given her a few galleons to spend, and so it was with a confident smile that she entered the shop and filled her little brown bag with chocolate frogs and licorice wands, and canary clusters, and all sorts of different things. A fleeting thought of guilt came over her as she handed over her Professor's money to pay for her treats, before resolving the matter in her mind: She was making up for lost time, and it would do no good to deny herself the right to buy sweets now when her school was practically on the doorstep of Honeydukes, of all places!

Severus had taken the opportunity to visit Hogsmead himself, partly because he wanted a chance to purchase some new robes for his old ones had been unhelpfully stained during one of his more chaotic lessons; but mainly because he knew that Charlotte felt more comfortable when he was around. He didn't want to shadow the child, preferring to give her a taste of independence, so he made his was the The Three Broomsticks and ordered a butterbeer, keeping an attentive eye on his surroundings.

As Charlotte left Honeydukes, bag safely tucked away inside the pocket of her robes, she decided to go for a walk as she felt as though a brisk hike would do well to justify the sweets. Snape had explained to her that the village continued for a while down the street of shops, and then dispersed into a field of trees and open landscape – which certainly sounded like a good place to investigate. She set off thusly, taking with her Sidcup, who was firmly perched on her out-stretched hand.

Unbeknownst to her, Catherine and Jenny had thought much along the same lines, and were sat beneath an evergreen tree when they heard the foot-steps of the new-girl approaching.

"What's she doing here?" Asked Catherine in a voice dripping with hate. Jenny wondered why Catherine found the girl so annoying, but went along with it anyway,

"Cathy, she's probably just taking a walk. Just ignore her," she said to her friend, attempting to sound as though she didn't like the new-girl either, but also hinting for Catherine not to be mean.

"Look at her! I hate how she acts all innocent," Catherine muttered angrily, not quite understanding how a girl so pathetic and oblivious could ever be getting higher grades that her, especially seeing as she took wit-sharpening potion daily just in order to keep up the grades she was getting. Although she wasn't about to tell anyone that.

"Why shouldn't she act innocent?" Jenny ask, becoming slightly defensive towards the poor girl,

"What? You mean you really think that she's as pathetic as she acts? She knows exactly what she's doing!" Catherine snapped back at her friend, who looked sorry for ever saying anything. Deciding that it was best to just comply with Cathy's demands, Jenny didn't protest further. Not even when Catherine stood up as the new-girl approached the tree where they were sitting. And when Cathy whispered "watch this,", Jenny couldn't help but watch curiously at what her friend was about to do.

"Hey, Charlotte, how are you?" Catherine went over and called towards Charlotte in a sickeningly sweet voice, "Going anywhere nice?"

"Just going for a walk," Charlotte replied, confused as to why Catherine was suddenly being friendly towards her, "I haven't really explored anywhere beyond the shops yet," she continued, thinking that Cathy just wanted a pleasant conversation.

"You mean you haven't seen the Potion Lodge yet?" Catherine asked enthusiastically, thinking quickly on her feet. Jenny realised what her friend was getting at instantly and rolled her eyes at the rather stupid excuse Catherine had made up. She was surprised that Charlotte didn't notice straight away that Cathy had made it up.

"No...what's that?" Charlotte asked, her Ravenclaw curiosity taking over her caution.

"Don't tell me you've never heard of the Potion Lodge!" Catherine exclaimed, giving her self time to think. Slowly, she began to formulate a passable explanation: "It's where the ghost of Laverne de Montmorency lives," she said, knowing that Charlotte would have heard of the famous potions inventor.

"Does he like visitors?" Charlotte asked, still a little sceptical, although her unnaturally trusting nature was already looking forward to meeting the great Montmorency.

"Like them?" Catherine laughed, feigning affection for the new-girl as she relished in her gullibility, "The Lodge is constantly filled with students from all different years! There are always potions in there brewing and bubbling, and he gives every visitor a free vile of whatever potion they choose. Plus there are loads of cool ingredients, and he lets you stir some if you want!" Catherine found herself getting a little carried away with her description, not feeling guilty for even a second as she reminded herself of how Charlotte had ruined Hogwarts. "Want me to show you?" She asked finally as Charlotte's face was evidently lit up with excitement. Charlotte nodded enthusiastically and followed Cathy – grateful that she was being nice to her for once.

They continued down the village until they reached an old looking house. It looked most fitting for a ghost to live in, thought Charlotte, and she couldn't wait to see inside. She imagined the warm bubbling potions, and the welcoming wizard; not to mention that Snape would be thrilled if she came back with some rare ingredients to give to him. In her naïve way, she didn't stop to think that Catherine was lying to her, for she spoke with such conviction. More than used to being stuck indoors as a slave to her muggle relatives, Charlotte had had little experience in socialising with people her age – she didn't know that they could be so nasty.

When they arrived at the front door, Charlotte timidly creaked open the door and made her presence known by calling out. As she stepped in – having heard no reply – Catherine ran, giggling wildly to herself at the joke she had just played. Charlotte suddenly felt very unsafe and as the door swung closed behind her she realised that it had all been a trick.

Trying not to panic, she looked around. It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up. She didn't know where she was or who was with her. But one thing was for sure: She didn't like it.

She tried to open the door frantically, but found that it was locked. Had she been anywhere else she would have remembered that a simple spell would have done the trick, but she was far too scared to think. Instead, she just banged on the door frantically and shouted for someone to come and find her.

Suddenly, a wailing, shrieking sound came from the corner of the room. And then another from the opposite end. Before she knew it, the room was filled with a horrific noise of cackling and shrieking and blood-curdling laugher, much like that of the Bloody Baron. This only served to make Charlotte more desperate to get out, and she used her entire body weight to try to open the door; unfortunately this wasn't saying much, and unsurprisingly the door didn't budge an inch.

Back at the evergreen tree, Catherine returned with a satisfied smile etched onto her face.

"What did you do?" Jenny asked, partly wanting to know, and partly out of concern.

"I took her to the Shrieking Shack, of course." At the look of horror on Jenny's face Cathy attempted to explain her actions, "don't worry, I only locked the door. It's not like it's _actually _haunted. It's just the wind,"

"We know that, but she doesn't!"

"Yeah, well...so what?" Catherine said, suddenly concerned that she would get into trouble. Jenny thought about the new-girl and how scared she would be to be locked all on her own in the Shrieking Shack. While she wanted to stick with her friend, she knew that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't do something.

Right at that moment, a small bunch of fifth years walked passed, chatting avidly about their most recent Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

"Excuse me..." Jenny called, slightly nervous at talking to the older children,

"What is it?" They all asked nastily. Jenny saw the green and silver crest on their robes and regretted seeking their attention. Nevertheless, they would have to do.

"Please will you go find a teacher and tell them that someone is locked in the Shrieking Shack?"

"Why can't you go and unlock it?" Was their reply, wondering why a simple spell couldn't be done by a Ravenclaw fourth year.

"I think she's a bit upset. Plus it was kind of my fault...partly," Explained Jenny, feeling remorseful even though she hadn't actually done anything herself.

The group nodded, figuring that they were bound to see a teacher on their way to The Three Broomsticks anyway – it would be no extra trouble for them. With that, they all walked off, leaving Jenny feeling slightly better for her act of kindness. She went back accordingly to her place by the tree, Catherine never knowing why she had momentarily left.

Snape had just paid the bartender and was about to leave when a group of his Slytherins came bounding up to him, all saying the same thing at once:

"Someone is apparently stuck in the Shrieking Shack," or variations thereof. Snape's eyes narrowed and his forehead burrowed into a frown.

"Who?" He asked, making it clear to the boys that they better give him a good answer,

"A fourth year Ravenclaw I think, Professor," One boy said, for he knew Jenny vaguely – she was a friend of his sister. Snape felt his heart sink as he heard this news, instantly knowing that it would be Charlotte Bradley. The poor girl had to learn not to be so easily led. The potions master thanked the messengers and left promptly, apparating straight away to the Shrieking Shack.

The outside of the shrieking shack was deserted as usual; despite no real evidence to suggest that the rumours were true, most avoided the shack at all costs for fear that it was haunted. Snape knew why this rumour was put about, but this didn't serve to make him feel more at ease. Instead, his mind was cast back to that day when Sirius Black tricked him into being faced with the werewolf. He shuddered in his swooping robes and tried not to think of the horror he had felt when he saw the shack, and the wolf inside. Feeling nothing but empathy for the poor girl, who like him had been tricked into entering the shack even if there was no real danger this time, he took out his wand and opened the door silently.

All at once the bundle of robes and tears came running out and nearly toppling the potions master over, if he hadn't steadied himself on a nearby tree trunk. Yet again the girl was sobbing helplessly, head firmly hidden inside Snape's robes. Severus wasn't entirely sure that he was comfortable with this new habit the girl seemed to have developed, but he thought better than to stop her.

"Miss Bradley, you are safe. I would never let you get hurt, I promised, remember?" Snape said softly, stroking the child's hair gently to calm her down. He wasn't sure if the girl would mind him doing this, for he reminded himself that he was the head of Slytherin after all – as well as the fact that any number of allegations could have been made against him if anyone were to see him comforting the girl. But Charlotte thought of none of this. She knew that Snape was simply looking out for her; besides, she didn't have any family of her own to comfort her, so Snape would have to do, even if he was a school professor.

"She told me it was the Potion Lodge," Charlotte said, feeling suddenly stupid for ever thinking that that could be a real place. Snape's eyes rolled at the girl's incredible gullibility, but quickly stopped for he didn't want to make her feel bad about herself.

"This is the Shrieking Shack...who is _she?_" Snape asked, eager to find out who was behind such a cruel trick. Charlotte said nothing, but looked at the ground stubbornly and refused to meet Snape's gaze, "who lied to you?" he continued, trying to speak gently although the anger was prominent in his tone of voice. Of course he wasn't angry at the girl, but he was certainly cross with whoever 'she' was.

"catherinebutitwasntherfaultidontwanthertobeintrouble..." Charlotte mumbled inaudibly, still crying, this time at the thought of getting Catherine into more trouble. She had already got her muggle relatives into trouble for accidentally letting her teacher see the bruises her Uncle had given her; why couldn't she just keep her mouth shut? Charlotte felt utterly miserable, and if it was possible then her self-confidence became even lower as she refused to repeat what she had just said. Snape saw this and didn't know what to do as the child's pained expression grew more and more unhappy.

"Did you buy anything today?" He asked eventually, changing tactics as he realised that the girl needed comforting more than 'she' needed punishing. Charlotte sniffled at this question, feeling better that the subject was changed. Sheepishly, she reached into her robes and got out the Honeydukes bag, before showing it to her Professor.

"Chocolate frogs mainly," she explained, allowing herself to smile weakly as she began to brush the tears away from her cheeks.

"Come now, Miss Bradley. Not your sleeve," Snape said firmly but softly, taking out his wand and throwing a quite cleaning charm across the girl who was not only covered in tears but also a lot of debris from the dusty old shack. Once finished he said, "Why don't we go back to Hogwarts and we can see what cards you have?" knowing that no child could resist the chance to add to their Chocolate frog card collection. At this Charlotte smiled happily and agreed that it would be a good idea.

Snape thought about apparating to the edge of Hogwarts and walking the short distance back, but figured that the girl probably wouldn't appreciate having her first apparating experience moments after a panic attack. So together the two walked back to school the hard way. Once there, they went to the great hall and sat down on one of the benches, looking through all of Charlotte's cards. Snape enjoyed seeing the girl relaxed and happy again, and even enjoyed looking through her collection, which still had a long way to go. Although he didn't admit that.

From afar, Albus was watching as Snape practically flung himself across the table in order to reach for the leg of an escaped chocolate frog. His eyes twinkled and his thumbs twiddled happily, before Nearly Headless Nick caught his attention and he turned on his heels to leave.

As Snape was holding the wriggling frog, Charlotte looked down at the card. In front of her beamed the image of Laverne de Montmorency stirring away at a bubbling cauldron with his famous dark pink love potion inside.

"Ah, Montmorency...a great wizard! He invented many great potions, Miss Bradley," Snape said with interest, Montmorency being somewhat of a hero to him (although he wasn't so fond of the particular focus of Montmorency's work).

"I know..." Charlotte said quietly. Her mind was about to spiral into memories of what had just happened and tears threatened to prickle her eyes once more. But looking around she found herself feeling far too happy to be upset. Snape saw the change of expression and wondered what the girl was thinking about. But before he had time to think, she grabbed the chocolate frog from his hand and bit its head of with a big smile on her face. Had this been any other student Snape would have probably been angry at her for snatching, but he couldn't help but feeling glad as he saw the girl smiling and eating the chocolate as though it was the last thing she would ever eat. He himself smiled at this thought, and a feeling of satisfaction came across him as he realised that _he, _Severus Snape, had helped the girl.


	16. Chapter 16

Thanks for the reviews! Sorry this has taken SO long to post! (stupid revision...)

As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter...

Chapter 16 – Halloween at Hogwarts

Another week passed and as Halloween approached, there was an air of excitement about the school.

It was the 30th of October, and the Great Hall was awash with teachers and students alike all hurrying to decorate the hall before tomorrow's Halloween Feast. The 30th being a Friday, Charlotte was happy to note that she only had a Transfiguration lesson left before the weekend, and it was with this happy thought in mind that she headed off to her classroom; dodging skilfully the cruel pranks of the infamous Hogwarts poltergeist, Peeves.

Transfiguration was certainly a lot of fun. Unlike her usual stern attitude towards her lesson plans, McGonagall had decided that her students had earned a Halloween themed lesson for the day, and thus the children were sorted into pairs and were given the 'Melofors Jinx' to learn.

Jenny paired with Catherine straight away, and the two started promptly, wanting to be the first to get it right as always. The Gryffindors all paired amongst themselves, and most of the Ravenclaws did the same. Alfonso was about to go with Charlotte, before realising that David – another Ravenclaw boy and a good friend of his – didn't have a partner. He looked regretfully at Charlotte for a second, before turning to join his friend timidly.

It didn't take long for McGonagall to realise the situation, although she had no idea what to do about it. Usually, for such a thing occurred quite frequently, she would ask the 'left over' student to join another group and they could all take it in turns. But as she looked around the different pairs she doubted that Charlotte would be readily accepted by anyone, except perhaps Alfonso and David, but she knew that Charlotte would have the spell mastered in a matter of minutes, and didn't want them to feel left behind. Sighing, she decided that to save the girl the misery of having to work on her own, she said:

"Miss Bradley, you can work with me." As she spoke, she saw the wild look of fear in the girl's grey eyes and felt sorry that she had frightened her in any way. As the class all began to work amongst themselves, she allowed her stern glare to slip and she smiled fondly at the girl, who looked up weakly in return. Professor McGonagall wasn't as good as Snape at being reassuring, but nevertheless Charlotte was happy to be with the Transfiguration Professor.

"Melofors," Charlotte said, feeling most unusual as she pointed her wand in her Professor's face and imagined her with a pumpkin encased around her head. Minerva was surprised at herself for allowing a student to perform a jinx on her, but she had to admit that it was nice to see the girl acting with confidence. When nothing happened, Charlotte tried again; and again; and again. The room was a constant noise of children nearly shouting the word "melofors" at the top of their voices, willing the pumpkins to appear.

After ten minutes of shouting, everyone's head turned round to see Jenny stood with a bright orange pumpkin covering her head. Her hair was just visible from underneath, although the difference in colour was barely visible for her hair blazed as ginger as ever. Catherine stood with a look of extreme smugness on her face as she made sure everyone knew that _she _had cast the spell. Jenny's muffled laughter could just be heard from inside, and as she started to flap her hands in protest the class roared with laughter and applause.

"Very good, Miss Pennington," Professor McGonagall exclaimed, addressing Catherine with her last name which always made Charlotte laugh quietly to herself. "10 points to Ravenclaw". If it was possible for Catherine to look any more smug, then she did so. Arrogance was etched over her face, and as she flicked her bleached-blonde hair away from her cheeks you could see her lips curl into a sneer. Her eyes flashed towards the new-girl, expecting to see her looking angry, or jealous, or resentful. Instead, Charlotte looked happily at Jenny with the pumpkin still on her head, and didn't stop to think for a second that she hadn't been the first to perfect the jinx. After all, she had never come across anything like it before, and it was somewhat more difficult to be practising on a teacher. Not to mention that there wasn't an envious bone in the girl's body.

It wasn't much longer after McGonagall banished the pumpkin away from Jenny's head that Charlotte managed to cast the spell correctly. This time, no one dared laugh, and Minerva banished the heavy, round squash from her head very quickly; although Charlotte could see her eyes twinkling in good humour as her face was revealed once more.

By the end of the lesson, almost everyone had experienced what it is like to have a pumpkin stuck on top of their head. All but Charlotte, who had politely asked not to be involved – for the idea of being trapped in something dark and heavy was terrifying. However, just as the bell was about to sound, Jenny and Catherine were heard whispering enthusiastically to themselves, suppressing giggles as they attempted to stay quiet.

"Shall we?" Jenny said with a tone of girlish excitement.

"Go on!" Catherine encouraged, almost pushing her friend forward to where Charlotte was standing. Jenny reached her wand out accordingly, and spoke the word 'melofors' before Charlotte had time to object. As the light flashed from her wand, a momentary look of remorse came over Jenny's still smiling face; but it was too late.

As the pumpkin sat tightly on her head, making everything go dark, Charlotte screamed. It was muffled slightly by the massive squash – as one would imagine – but could nonetheless be heard by most people close-by. Unfortunately, McGonagall had left the room temporarily to ask Professor Lupin something, who happened to be passing. So she didn't notice what was happening, and so didn't realise that Charlotte was in floods of tears, barely able to breath.

Her panic took hold of her quickly, and she allowed herself to fall to her knees in exhaustion; still screaming, although her gasps for breath were becoming more frequent. A few of the children around her tried to help, but soon found that the girl was to hysterical to be helped by a bunch of 14 year olds.

"If McGonagall finds out she will kill you!" Said one of the Ravenclaw girls who shared the dorm with Charlotte, Catherine and Jenny.

"That's so not funny, Jen," said Alfonso, sounding hopelessly friendly with his thick Italian accent despite his efforts to sound annoyed.

Above the chaos of the noise the bell sounded, and McGonagall quickly returned to dismiss her class, before seeing the group of students all gathering around the pumpkin. _So this is what happens when I leave them for two minutes_ Minerva thought feeling utterly exasperated. Jenny and Catherine had run out at the sound of the bell, and by now most of the other children were losing interest; preferring the thought of making it to the Quidditch match on time rather than sticking around to hear McGonagall shouting.

Thanking Alfonso and David for trying to help, she told the boys to leave and walked over to Charlotte, who was still crying painfully.

"There, Miss Bradley, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Minerva said softly as she removed the pumpkin with a single wave of her wand. She had hardly expected a fully coherent answer, but admittedly was slightly lost for what to say when all Charlotte did was whimper and sniffle, before continuing to cry helplessly.

"Everything alright in here?" Lupin asked from the door, for he had heard the commotion as soon as Minerva had left, and quickly doubled back to see if he could be of any help. As he saw the girl sitting on her knees with tears down her cheeks – a scene he recognised from his own lesson – he understood perfectly. "I'll go and get Severus," he said, winking at Minerva to show that she was doing the right thing. McGonagall didn't like feeling powerless, but had to admit that she was completely lost dealing with the girl. She wanted to help, of course, but knew that Severus was far better at this sort of thing, even if he would never admit it.

Lupin walked at the fastest pace possible without running towards Snape's classroom, where he would no doubt be – he rarely left his beloved dungeons but for dinner and to patrol the corridors if he was feeling particularly angry. As always, Remus was faced with an uneasy sense of dread as he got closer to the potions classroom; always a reminder of his condition, and his rather unfortunate relationship with 'snivelly'.

"Ah Remus...run out already, have we?" Snape asked with a glare; disdain in every syllable.

"No, no, Severus," replied Remus, trying to be cheerful in the face of the potions master, "It's Charlotte Bradley...she's a little upset," At these words, Snape dropped his act of hatred and replaced his expression with a look of deep concern. Lupin was momentarily shocked to see this, although Severus didn't seem to have noticed.

"In what way do you mean 'upset'?" Asked Snape, hoping that Charlotte wasn't being hung upside down by the 'levicorpus' jinx again.

"She had a bit of a fright in McGonagall's lesson today; I believe it had something to do with her classmates" explained Lupin honestly, for he hadn't actually seen the direst cause of the girl's distress. Snape glared angrily: Why did all of his fellow staff members insist on planning lessons that are bound to traumatise the poor girl? Without saying another word, Snape swept passed the wolf, dragging his sweeping robes behind him as he walked. Having done his bit, Remus decided that it was best to let Severus deal with things himself, and so he left for the Great Hall, wondering if he could lend a hand with decorating.

Snape practically pushed the gathering groups of students out of his way as he hurried towards the Transfiguration classroom. He wasn't entirely sure what was making him so anxious, but all he knew was that the feeling of being the victim of jinxes was at the forefront of his mind. He couldn't let the child go through what he went through; he knew he would do anything to ensure that that didn't happen.

"What's happened?" Snape said with concern in his voice as he entered the room. McGonagall rose to her feet, leaving the girl alone one the floor, and walked over to Severus to explain what had happened. The words had barely left her mouth when Snape swept passed the witch and joined Charlotte in the middle of the room.

"Professor..." Charlotte whimpered hopelessly. She reached out her arm slightly as though looking for comfort. Snape saw this and obliged, allowing the girl to cling to his robes as he tried to get her to stand. She stood accordingly, burying her head in the potion master's black robes and breathing in the potions. Charlotte wasn't sure why this made her feel so much better, but it did, and that was all she cared about.

"Come now, it's alright..." Soothed Professor Snape, trying hard not to smirk and roll his eyes, as his instinct told him to do, "Foolish child...you're safe."

Charlotte continued to sniffle slightly as she refused to remove her face from the comfort of Snape's robes, but she stopped crying which was a start. Minerva and Severus exchanged glances, and it was evident from the look on Minerva's face that she was shocked at Snape's calm approach to the situation. Snape, on the other hand, was getting used to knowing what to do when the girl was upset. He wanted to punish Jenny and Catherine himself for deliberately causing the girl distress, but he knew that it wouldn't be much help. Instead, he reluctantly left the discipline to Minerva – who was probably the second best at these things.

"It's okay, Miss Bradley...it's over now," Snape said gently, coaxing the girl towards the door. "Would you like to help decorate the Great Hall?" He asked, thinking tactfully about what would take the child's mind off her recent ordeal.

Charlotte was about to reply 'yes', before thinking better of it, for she was afraid that Snape meant without him. After a few seconds of silence, but for the heavy breathing of Charlotte who was still fighting away the last few tears, Snape said, "How about we carve a pumpkin?"

"Yes please!" Charlotte said as soon as she heard the word 'we', knowing that she would feel a lot better if she got to do something for Halloween – just as long as Snape was with her.

By the time Snape and Charlotte reached the Great Hall, Charlotte had calmed down enough to let Snape gently remove her from his robes. Although she still made sure that he was close by, the safety of his presence was enough. Snape found an un-carved pumpkin, and allowed Charlotte to pick a design. Of course, the job could have been done in a second with magic, but he decided that the muggle method would be a better distraction for the girl.

About 10 minutes later, Charlotte was beaming happily, and even Snape's lips threatened to curl into a smile as he and the girl admired their pumpkin – which had been carved artistically in the shape of Peeves' face.

Still not wanting to leave the girl alone, just in case anything else was to happen, Snape decided that he would attend the Halloween quidditch match for once – after all, it was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, so it would only be right that the Head of Slytherin was in the audience.

Charlotte always enjoyed watching quidditch, despite how hopeless she was at actually playing it. Thus it was in good spirits that she walked across the school grounds with Snape towards the pitch.

"Would you like to sit with the other Ravenclaws, Miss Bradley?" Snape asked, not knowing whether the girl had recovered enough to be on her own. Too embarrassed to answer, Charlotte merely mumbled in protest, and Snape took that as a 'no'. Smirking to himself at how childish the girl could be at times, he allowed her to stay with him as he made his way to the teacher's reserved seats in the crowd.

Usually, students weren't allowed here, but Snape knew that Dumbledore would understand.

"What if the other teachers don't want me up there?" Charlotte asked with fear in every syllable as she stopped in the middle of the stairs.

"Foolish child, don't be silly..." Snape replied as he sighed at how much reassurance the girl needed. Charlotte didn't reply, but came to stand even closer to her professor, almost covering herself in his robes as they swayed in the cool breeze.

Snape located a couple of seats in between Lupin and McGonagall. He made his was there accordingly, taking his seat my Minerva so as to avoid 'moony'. A lot had changed since they were boys, but nonetheless he couldn't help but remember the horrors of his childhood every time he looked at the man. And it was something he wanted to avoid wherever possible. Charlotte, however, was happy to sit next to her Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, who tapped the chair friendlily, dispelling Charlotte's fears that she may be unwelcome.

Snape watched as Charlotte became fixated with the game. Although Ravenclaw wasn't playing, she was still captivated, and decided to try to follow the snitch wherever it went, purely for fun. Every now and then, when the bludgeon came flying towards her or the commentator shouted particularly loudly, Charlotte would recoil into her Professor's arms and hide her face until it was safe to re-emerge. Although this would have been a source of great embarrassment had any of her classmates seen her, she knew that no one around her would be as judgemental as them and so had no problem with being comforted. In fact, she relished in having someone who was willing to reassure her whenever she asked for it.

Severus was a little concerned at how much more relaxed the girl seemed to be around him; not knowing if this was a good sign or not. However, when the game finished and Charlotte was told to go to the Great Hall with the rest of her year for dinner, McGonagall put his mind to rest.

"It's wonderful that she has someone she can trust," She said in her rich Scottish accent. Her green eyes glistened much in the same way as the headmaster's did. Snape was about to protest, not liking the implication that he was a loving and trustworthy man. But before he could say anything he realised that he had nothing to object to. He tried to feel angry, but couldn't help but feel the feeling of happiness wash over him. The idea that Minerva really thought that he was doing the right thing was foreign to Snape, but nevertheless it was a welcome thought.


	17. Chapter 17

Hi – thanks so much for the reviews as always :) Please keep letting me know what you think :D

Just a quick warning for this one: There's a lot of hurt/comfort towards the end. If that's not your thing then this chapter really isn't for you lol...

It's very long just to let you know :P

But yeah enjoy...

Chapter 17 – Oppugno Hurts

_It was Halloween night. Everyone was in the Great Hall enjoying the feast. Laughing and cheering. No one knew where she was. She hurried along to the Slytherin Common Room, waiting for her brother to arrive. Like clockwork, the 5__th__ year turned up and ran towards his sister, the bottle hidden tightly in his robes. _

_ "Do you have it?" She hissed hurriedly, conscious of the fact that her brother's head of house was probably nearby._

_ "Yeah yeah, of course. It was right in the classroom...just went in and took it," The Slytherin boy smiled, proud of his achievement._

_ "Never mind that, give me the bottle!" his sister replied, although she smiled as thanks. "Same as last time?" She asked, just to make sure._

_ "Yep, if not stronger! That girl couldn't possibly beat this," He sneered, handing the bottle over. "Just be careful, Catherine,"_

_ "I will."_

The next Monday, Charlotte shuffled her feet along the corridor towards her charms class. They were having an unofficial practical exam as part of their revision for next year's OWLs, and even though she was secretly confident that she knew the charm pretty well, there was still an element of nerves running through her. _How could the Sorting Hat have ever considered putting her in Gryffindor? _She wondered miserably, giving herself a hard time as usual about how pathetic she was being. She saw Alfonso, and David, and Catherine, and Jenny, and all the other students; all giggling and smiling as they entered the long charms classroom. They all seemed so confident and relaxed. Charlotte brushed her hair over her face to hide her grey eyes – which were slightly too wet to go unnoticed, and dodged the crowd to find her seat.

"Now, class," began Professor Flitwick from his place on top of a pile of books at the front of the classroom, "you know what to do. Silence is obligatory; you must not communicate with other students, or use any unauthorised materials in any way. Above all, I would like you to treat this as an official exam. Good luck – you may begin,"

His hurried speech finished abruptly and Charlotte found herself staring at the set up before her: an egg in an egg cup, a quill, and a sheet with a list of spells next two empty 'tick' boxes – that was it. She sighed and took out her wand, reading the first spell on the list: "Colovaria". This colour changing charm was simple enough, and soon Charlotte had a bright green egg sitting before her. She smiled to herself as the quill sprung to life and added a single tick next to the relevant box.

The exam continued much like this, with eggs of all colours popping up around the room. The other spells included "Wingardium Leviosa", and a variety of different growth charms – of which you could pick whichever one you felt you could achieve, as they increased in difficulty. Charlotte chose the most difficult, and pulled it off perfectly.

Already, some children had finished. Most of the Hufflepuffs had stopped after their chosen Growth Charm, accepting an "acceptable", for they still had another year and a bit before they actually had to take their final exam. Catherine, however, was determined to be top of the class as usual. She continued down past the Growth Charm, into spells that the class had yet to learn. Flitwick had used the test to see where his class were at so far; he hadn't expected any of them to know the stuff he hadn't even taught them.

When they were the only two left, both Catherine and Charlotte had little ticks by the side of each charm. Charlotte was about to put her wand down, when she noticed the last question at the very bottom of the paper. Unlike the others, this one was didn't specify the exact charm. Instead, it instructed the student to make the egg do cartwheels, before landing it exactly into the egg cup.

Catherine took one look at this question and smiled, before placing her wand down. _There's no way she could know that spell!" _She thought to herself happily. She was sure that she'd done enough already to get an "Outstanding" without doing that last one. Charlotte, on the other hand, knew that she had to do it. She had stumbled on the Wingardium Leviosa because she was shaking so much, and so needed to redeem herself if she wanted top marks.

Surprising everyone, Charlotte gripped her wand tightly and glared at the egg, as though willing it to comply to her plan. Of course, Charlotte knew that there would be a specific charm for this exact question, but the only problem was she had no idea what it was. Shoving the feeling of defeat to the back of her mind, she gripped her wand even tighter until her hand shook as she wracked her brain for any spell that would do the trick. After what seemed like minutes, a sudden smile came over her face; she had an idea. It would be difficult, but she had to try.

Catherine smirked audibly as she saw this, wondering why the girl didn't just give up now. But the smirk was wiped from her face when Charlotte uttered the word "Mobiliarbus" slowly and carefully so as to not make any mistakes.

Charlotte's wand now had complete control over the egg. All she had to do was move her wand round and round in the air, mimicking a cartwheel motion. Flitwick practically jumped in the air as he saw what the girl had ingeniously decided to try – nearly causing her to break concentration.

Charlotte recognised the feeling of pressure and nerves that washed over her. On countless occasions, she had been instructed to cook for Bill and Dorene Parker, her muggle relatives; if the food wasn't perfect, they would certainly waste no time in letting her know. And so having had years of meticulous practice, it wasn't difficult for Charlotte to keep her concentration steady and eventually land the egg.

Forgetting the 'exam conditions' rule he himself had set, Flitwick exclaimed "Marvellous, Miss Bradley. Absolutely marvellous! 10 points to Ravenclaw!"

Charlotte couldn't help but smile openly as she saw the full ticks across her paper. Suddenly, everyone's paper rearranged itself, so that the ink read the score they had gained. Charlotte smiled even wider when she saw the "Outstanding" on her page. The only other person to get this was Catherine, although hers was not an expression of happiness, but resentful anger and jealously.

The rest of the day continued with Charlotte smiling and Catherine seething. A feeling of jealously was still largely prominent in Catherine's mind even during their DADA lesson, when Charlotte failed pitiably for the millionth time. However, it wasn't until after classes finished that she ever said anything.

After Arithmancy, the last lesson of the day, Charlotte made her way back to the Ravenclaw common room to catch up on some homework. Unbeknownst to her, Catherine was following her every move. Charlotte found her favourite armchair next to the window and curled up, reading through her textbook briefly to re-familiarise herself before starting her Potions essay.

"How the hell did _you _know that?" Catherine spat out suddenly,

"I don't know what you mean..." replied Charlotte in a scared voice, although she tried to sound as though she really didn't know. This just infuriated Catherine further.

"How DARE you!" She screamed, fighting against the urge to jump on the girl and rip all her hair out, "I was top of the class until you showed up!" Her shouts were becoming angrier by the second. "No one could out-perform _me_!" Catherine screamed, not realising what she had said.

"But you got "Outstanding" too" Charlotte said slowly. She didn't want to aggravate the girl further, but she didn't quite understand.

"Yeah, but I took -" Catherine stopped herself mid-sentence, suddenly realising what she had just told the girl.

"Took what?" Charlotte asked suspiciously, already knowing the answer. _How could Catherine be taking a Performance Enhancing potion? _She was never given an answer, because Catherine had already left.

Running down the Ravenclaw Tower and towards the Slytherin common room, Catherine struggled to catch her breath as she realised what had happened. Now somebody knew her secret, and it wouldn't be long before the whole school found out. She would be punished. Or worse: Expelled.

As she came to the Common Room she banged furiously on the door, not knowing the password for it changed regularly. Anger burned across her red face, and as she scratched against the door she screamed in annoyance.

"Cathy...what in the name of Merlin are you doing?" Her brother called from the other end of the dungeons, breaking away from his group of friends.

"Oh...I thought you were inside," Catherine mumbled, ashamed at herself for losing control of her emotions. As she saw the protective look of concern on her older brother's face, she proceeded to explain: "She knows! That new-girl I told you about...she got "outstanding" too and I couldn't believe it and then I accidentally told her about the potion and -"

"Okay Cath, calm down for a second will you!" Her older brother said. His name was Melville, and he was one of many siblings of his traditionally Slytherin pure-blood family. His little sister had been the only one to buck this trend, and as such she was always looking to be the best in spite of her parents' disappointment. He felt a little sorry for her, and promised to help her in any way a brother could. "Are you sure she knows?" He asked slowly, already thinking about what to do.

"I'm sure of it," Catherine replied honestly. Her honesty didn't last long, however, as she knew that she would have to embellish the truth slightly if she was going to get her brother's full support, "She said that she was going to tell Dumbledore and get me expelled!"

On hearing these words, Melville said "right" in a dangerous voice, turning on his heals with his wand gripped firmly in his fist beneath his robes. Catherine followed with a flicker of a smile; partly relieved, and partly looking forward to some revenge.

"Can you summon something from nothing?" Asked the cool voice of the Ravenclaw door-knob.

"Huh?" Melville turned his head in confusion towards his sister. There was a reason why she was the Ravenclaw of the family.

"Of course not," Catherine rolled her eyes, her patience growing very thin as she was aware that Charlotte could give away her secret at any point, "You can't summon something from nothing, because there is always something," she said, this time addressing the door. It wasn't a perfect answer, but it was apparently enough to allow the two students entrance.

Inside, Charlotte sat in the same place where Catherine had left her, still musing upon what she had just been told. Of course, after years of keeping her Aunt and Uncle's darkest secrets, she wasn't about to tell anyone, but nonetheless she couldn't help thinking about it.

"Is that her?" Asked Melville darkly, approaching the small girl with mousy blonde hair as his sister nodded in confirmation. Usually, the thought of harming such an innocent looking girl would be unthinkable to Melville, who knew better than to pick on someone weaker than him. This was not out of a sense of morality, but a social awareness that bullying a young girl was hardly respectable practice. This deep-rooted code of conduct went out of the window, however, as he thought about his sister being expelled from Hogwarts.

Charlotte gasped and turned around suddenly, stepping out of the armchair to see what was going on. Before her stood a 5th year Slytherin boy who stood in front of Catherine; both of them had their wands out and pointed at her. Before she could say anything, Melville spoke:

"I may not be clever, but I know a filthy mud-blood when I see one," He spat, enjoying the terrified look that came over the girl's face. Charlotte fought against the tears as she heard that word again: "mud-blood". Her grey eyes burned in fear, but she tried to remain calm, thinking back to all those times when she had to listen to her Uncle shouting at her. Nothing could be as bad as that, could it?

"Avis," Catherine said all of a sudden, pointing her wand at the pieces of paper that Charlotte had been writing on. A flock of birds flew across the room and began flapping wildly in the air, making a lot of noise as they swooped this way and that. Charlotte had to admit she was slightly surprised at this; she had been expecting something a lot worse. But her confused expression quickly turned into that of extreme terror when she heard Melville hiss the word "Oppugno" from his malicious lips.

All too soon, the birds flew down towards the girl and started attacking her with relentless vehemence. It was all Charlotte could do to curl up on the floor and try to protect as much of her face as possible. The pain was almost indescribable as the birds pecked away at her skin. It wasn't long before her robes were ripped and tared all over; beneath each hole were deep cuts that glistened red in the sunlight that came from one of the open windows.

Melville laughed cruelly at the image before him. He almost forgot why he was there, before realising when his sister gave him a firm nudge. Sighing, he decided that it would be no use if the girl was too injured to hear him, so he quickly turned the birds back into paper and walked over to her.

"If you dare tell anyone about the potion," Hissed Melville with as much vehemence as the birds, "Then next time I won't make them stop," A chill ran down Charlotte's spine as he spoke. Somehow, she was sure that the boy wasn't just pretending. She managed to nod to show that she had understood. Satisfied, Melville turned back towards the door, gesturing for his sister to follow. She kicked the girl for good measure, before joining her sibling as they made their way to the Great Hall for dinner as though nothing had ever happened.

Charlotte sat in a ball and forced herself not to cry. She had learnt the hard way that crying only made things worse. Besides, she was far too used to punishments to feel the pain – at least that's what she kept telling herself. Charlotte thought about finding Professor Snape, before she remembered what he had told her: "You will never be hurt again". She frowned as she realised that Snape's promise had been broken. Although it wasn't his fault, Charlotte couldn't help but feel let-down by the potions master. So she stayed where she was.

It was a whole hour after Melville and Catherine had left that Alfonso and David came down from the dorms, where they had been enjoying a game of wizard chess. David had won, and was laughing happily as he came down the stairs. However, as the two boys' laughter stopped abruptly as they saw the girl. There was blood splattered around her on the floor, and her robes looked as though they had been through a paper shredder.

"Charlotte, you okay?" David asked in a concerned voice, approaching the girl carefully.

"m'fine," she muttered in return, stubbornly refusing his help. David rolled his eyes at Alfonso, who was already making his way to the door to get help. He left accordingly – hoping to inform the first member of staff he came across. Incidentally, it was Professor Snape, who had been planning on visiting the girl anyway to give her one of his favourite books about the art of potion making. When he saw the boy running down the spiral staircase his instinct was to be angry.

"I see you want to be in the hospital wing, boy?" He asked thinly, glaring at Alfonso with menace. He was surprised, however, when the boy just ignored his remarks and started talking:

"It's Charlotte, she's hurt! She's been there for at least an hour!" He exclaimed in his thick Italian accent. Little knowing that Snape was the one person Charlotte needed, he was doubting his decision to involve the Slytherin Head of House. Nevertheless, he knew that any teacher was better than no-one.

Snape said nothing, but nodded to the boy as thanks for the information. He quickened his pace as he made his way up the tower, dreading what he was about to find on the other side.

"Where do vanished objects go?" Asked the door, obviously not sensing the urgency of the potion master's visit.

"Into non-being – which is to say, everything," He replied, momentarily smirking as he thought to himself how big-headed the Ravenclaws were. _Did they really think that only a Ravenclaw could decipher such an easy riddle? _Although his expression was instantly changed to a look of concern and anguish as he saw the girl before him.

She had obviously been attacked, and it was clear from a mere glance that this was the work of the "oppugno" jinx. She lay in a bundle of torn up robes, shaking and whimpering as though trying desperately not to cry.

"Oh...foolish child," He said softly, approaching the girl carefully as he didn't want to alarm her. Charlotte said nothing, but turned her face away from the man. "Why didn't you tell someone, child?"

"I couldn't..." she whispered dismissively, although in truth she knew that she could have shouted out or maybe even walked herself. Honestly, she just couldn't face anyone knowing how pathetic she was.

Snape wondered why the girl was acting like she was. She was usually so reassured when he offered to help, he didn't understand why it wasn't the same now. Charlotte wanted more than anything to just allow herself to be comforted, but she had been hurt many times before and now that Snape had broken his promise, who knew how many more times she would be hurt? Wretchedly, Charlotte resorted to her old habit of pretending that she didn't need help.

"Does it hurt?" Snape asked, trying to get something out of the girl, who had actively turned her head to face away from him.

"No," she lied, barely even opening her mouth. She tried desperately not to cry; tears were filling her grey eyes, but not once did she make a sound. The lump in her throat was swallowed away and her lips were firmly shut. She even tensed as Snape tried to put his arm around her, not wanting to fall into the trap of feeling safe once more.

Snape had no idea what to do. All he knew was that the girl needed him, even if she wouldn't admit it. Trying not to feel angry at her hurtfully stubborn attitude, he scooped up the bundle of robes and walked over to the fireplace, where he took a handful of floo-powder and flooed to his office, still carrying the girl in his arms.

Charlotte didn't protest, although she still said nothing. The pain of her cuts against the fabric of the potion master's clothes was almost unbearable, and she couldn't help but whimper, which didn't go unnoticed by Severus. As soon as they arrived in his office, Snape found a pain relief potion and told the girl to drink.

"I'm fine..." she lied, once again feeling the lump in her throat. Every time she spoke, it threatened to make her cry, and so all she could manage was a few words before she had to close her lips together once more.

"I know, child..." Snape said softly in reply, smiling to himself as the girl still attempted to put on a brave face even through a look of pain was more than apparent in her eyes. "Just drink this for me anyway," he said, brushing Charlotte's hair away from her face and gently coaxing her mouth open until he could slip the potion down her throat. It worked almost instantaneously, although the pain of her own unhappiness was still far from over.

He put the girl down on his leather sofa, and took out his wand, before saying "vulnera sanentur", which healed her wounds quickly and painlessly. All the time, she was whimpering and sniffling, trying desperately to keep her emotions under control.

Snape's broken promise was still at the forefront of her mind, and Charlotte couldn't help but feel the same sense of dread that she used to feel when she lived with the muggles. Although she had dealt with that for as long as she could remember, the thought of having to go back to it now was almost too much to bear.

Severus saw the wretched look of pain in the girl's eyes and, once finished with the healing spell, sat himself by the side of her. For a second he waited for the girl to respond, but when she did nothing but lie there he held out his arm and allowed the girl to tentatively bury her head in his robes.

The lump in her throat grew bigger and harder to ignore. The tears that glistened across her eyes began to roll down her cheeks. Stubbornly, she didn't give in. She allowed the tears to roll down her face, but kept her mouth tightly shut. Snape saw her bottom lip quavering and he could feel her entire body shaking on the sofa.

"It's alright to cry, child," he said slowly, wondering why for Merlin's sake he was actually inviting the child to cry. Somehow he just knew that it would be good for her, and in spite of himself he knew it was the right thing to say.

On hearing these words Charlotte couldn't fight it any more. "You promised!" She choked, the cries taking over as her face began red and tear-stricken.

Snape closed his eyes momentarily and cursed to himself. _Why did he ever make a promise he couldn't keep? _He knew straight away what the girl was talking about. Although he was angry at himself for making such a mistake (especially when the girl was so sensitive and vulnerable), he was at least glad that Charlotte had finally stopped fighting her emotions.

Her body shook violently and all at once her unhappiness and anxiety was released in the form of hysterical crying.

"I'm scared, Professor...you promised I would never get hurt!" Charlotte struggled amongst the tears, speaking directly into the man's robes. Snape put his hand softly on the girls head and gently pushed her towards his chest, where he could wrap his arms around her more easily. He rocked her slightly, feeling as though he was comforting a ten year old, not a fifteen year old.

"It's alright, Charlotte. I'm here...you're safe. I will always come for you...I mean that," Snape soothed, not even realising that he had used the girl's given name for the first time.

"I'm scared," Charlotte said again, although this time she wasn't so hysterical.

"I know child. I know...it's alright now Charlotte. Just sleep..." Snape continued to rock her against his chest until her tears subsided. Eventually, they turned to sniffles, which turned to soft hiccups. Before long, Charlotte allowed herself to fall asleep in her Professor's arms.

Severus looked down at the sleeping bundle that lay against him. He knew that 4 months ago he would have never let a student do such a thing. Somehow, this girl was different. She wasn't special – except perhaps in potions lessons – and she wasn't even a Slytherin. But she reminded Snape of himself when he was younger: talented, but shy; always a target for the other, more cruel students; and always struggling against his past.

He allowed himself to flashback to when he was a boy – when his own muggle relative used to beat him and shout at him day in, day out. And then when he came to Hogwarts he thought he was getting away from all of that violence and abuse. Little knowing that he would spend his adolescent years at the hands of those...marauders.

Snape shuddered in memory. Charlotte felt this, and in turn her body shook with unease. Although she was asleep, she was still aware of her surroundings. She had heard Snape use her first name, and was relishing in being able to fall asleep against him as though he was her father. All her life, she had longed for this. All those nights she woke up and wished more than anything else that her mother or father would run in and comfort her. All those times she fell over and needed someone to make her feel better. When she was little and a storm scared her, or the dark. No one ever came. But now here she was. It may not have been her father, but she was glad to have _someone._ Even if he was disliked by practically every other student in the school – except maybe Slytherins – Charlotte knew that she could trust him.

Snape took Charlotte up once more and carried her to his chambers, where he placed her in the spare bed and dressed her in pyjamas with magic. Every time she stirred of whimpered, he would say "there now", or "it's okay" in a soft, caring voice – so unlike the way he sounded during class.

After he was sure that the girl was fast asleep, he went to his own bedroom and quickly got into bed. Just before he turned the light out, he frowned to himself in concentration. A strangely new feeling of responsibility came over him as he realised that Charlotte actually _needed _hime. He knew that he was going to have to be the adult here; he would talk to the child the next morning about exactly what happened.


End file.
